AZMEX I3 18 APR 2017
Updated Apr 18, 2017 - 11:09 am
Number of immigrant arrests in Phoenix area on the rise in 2017
KTAR.COM | April 18, 2017 @ 5:45 am
http://ktar.com/story/1533696/number-of-immigrant-arrests-in-phoenix-area-slowly-climb-in-2017/
In this Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017, photo released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, foreign nationals are arrested during a targeted enforcement operation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) aimed at immigration fugitives, re-entrants and at-large criminal aliens in Los Angeles. (Charles Reed/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via AP)
PHOENIX — Nearly 1,000 immigrants were arrested in the Phoenix area from January through mid-March of this year, according to data obtained by The Washington Post.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 986 immigrants in the Phoenix area from Jan. 20 to March 13, a number that spiked from the 2016 numbers over the same time period. Just one year prior, only 864 immigrants were arrested by border agents.
However, the statistic from 2017 seemed to be on the decline compared to the numbers from 2014 and 2015. During the same time period in 2014, 1,209 immigrants were arrested in the Phoenix area, compared to 1,046 in 2015.
The number of non-criminal immigrants who were arrested in 2017 also climbed steadily compared to years prior.
Out of the 986 immigrants arrested in 2017, 315 did not have a criminal record. (non media math = 671 with criminal records )
In 2016, 253 non-criminal immigrants were arrested, compared to 264 immigrants in 2015 and 408 in 2014.
In addition to the number of immigrants who were arrested, 1,157 immigrants were detained from January to March 2017. Only 684 immigrants were detained over the same time period in 2016, compared to 1,136 immigrants in 2015 and 1,354 in 2014.
According to The Washington Post, immigration arrests nationwide rose more than 32 percent during the first weeks of President Donald Trump's administration.
Border agents arrested 21,362 immigrants in 2017, compared to 16,104 in the same period last year.
But the statistic that supports the theory that "Trump has ditched his predecessor's protective stance toward most of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States," the Post reported, is the number of arrests of non-criminal immigrants. That number has doubled to 5,441 nationwide, according to the data.
In a statement to The Washington Post, ICE spokeswoman Jennifer Elzea said in a statement that the agency "focuses its enforcement resources on individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security.
"However, as [Homeland Security] Secretary [John F.] Kelly has made clear, ICE will no longer exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement," she added.
Arizona made the immigration spotlight this year after two undocumented immigrants — Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos and Juan Carlos Fomperosa Garcia — were detained and deported following routine check-ins with ICE following Trump's immigration executive order.
The arrests garnered controversy among pro-immigration groups, who argued that the deportations were simply splitting up families and were not for the public good.
end
Group of 200 migrants tame the Beast and halt the trip.
The people of Central American origin took five tank cars carrying fuel;
Camp to the side of the machinery; Participated in refugee movements
04/17/2017 15:17 JOSÉ DE JESÚS CORTÉS
Http://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2017/04/17/1158155
MEXICO CITY
Since yesterday afternoon the freight train known as La Bestia is taken over by a group of 200 Central Americans who participated in the migrant refugee movement and in Ixtepec, Oaxaca, tried to continue their journey to Veracruz aboard the train.
According to Cristóbal Sánchez, one of the organizers of the viacrucis, the migrants took five tank cars that transport fuel to make their camps and travel yesterday afternoon to Medias Aguas.
But due to the presence of the migrants, the company Ferro Sur determined yesterday to suspend the departure of the train until the tank cars are released due to the risk that the Central Americans travel in the cars with flammable material.
From yesterday afternoon the train is parked in the switch yard of the Ixtepec station.
end
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
AZMEX I3 15-4-17
AZMEX I3 15 APR 2017
Note: As usual mostly meant for illegal immigrants.
Don't even think of interfering in Mexico's affairs.
Because: "Mexico decides who enters our country"
"the decisions of who enters Mexico, are made by Mexico and only Mexico"
Luis Videgaray Caso, Mexican Foreign Minister
10 March, 2017
Comment: Could Pavlovich Arellano and Videgaray Caso be not Mexicans, but Russians?
Gracias / cпасибо
Governor Pavlovich presents online services for Sonoran migrants
Los Angeles, California, April 8, 2017.-
Http://www.elregionaldesonora.com.mx/noticia/66140
Governor Claudia Pavlovich Arellano stopped in Los Angeles, California, to maintain unity around Mexican migrants, to move forward together and for no one to stand in the way.
In continuing the work of the Conago delegation in Los Angeles, California, Governor Claudia Pavlovich Arellano signed the agreement to join efforts to the consular network in the United States, to offer legal advice and that required by nationals, regardless of their place of residence. Those with origin in Mexico.
In her capacity as Chair of the International Affairs Committee of the National Conference of Governors, Conago, along with 6 of her counterparts, as well as members of the Mexican Foreign Ministry, Governor Pavlovich presented online services that can be used by Sonorans in The United States, whose system, she said, is available to entities wishing to implement it.
At a meeting of the delegation of governors and foreign officials with the Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, Governor Pavlovich said that Sonoran migrants can for file birth, marriage and death certificates online from the United States.
This, she said, allows them to have an official identity document, an example that she proposed to be replicated for citizens from other states.
"I want to put into the hands of my fellow Governors this instrument that we have in Sonora, and that also serves us Sonorenses in California, which are online in minutes, birth certificates, marriage records and death certificates, It's very easy to get them out of your computer at home, "she said.
Mayor acknowledges Sonoran contribution to LA
The Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, acknowledged the contribution that Sonorans have made to the city's prosperity, recalling that it was the families of the state who founded it.
"Governor Pavlovich, I tell you that thousands of Angelians and visitors are coming through the history of this month, the enriching culture of this state, it is very important to have this approach for all residents of Los Angeles," he said.
United to protect migrants
Governor Claudia Pavlovich Arellano called for working together to protect Mexicans living in the United States, providing all kinds of legal counseling for themselves and their families. She said that although the times are complicated, only the this instrument will make the migrant the center of attention and joint effort of the federal and state governments.
"We have to be together, and I believe that in this time that we are going through difficult times or we are all moving towards the same path, or we are moving forward and leaving people by the way, and that is not the right thing to do, our people deserve to be treated as a human being, and the human being is the center of everything, and we must defend the most vulnerable, and especially at this moment the migrants who are having problems and who are in great fear, "he said.
The Governor of Morelos and President of the National Conference of Governors, Graco Ramírez, announced that among the agreements reached by the visit of the seven governors to Los Angeles was the approval of the centers for migrants in the states, to protect any citizen As well as making available to migrants legal counsel for the 50 consulates of Mexico in the United States.
"We agreed with our House of Attention to Migrants (Casa de Atención a Migrantes) in the United States, the creation of a network that will allow homologation of protocols of action," he said.
The following were present: Miguel Ángel Mancera, Head of Government of Mexico City; The Governor of Baja California, Francisco Vega de Lamadrid; The Governor of Guanajuato, Miguel Márquez Márquez; The Governor of Oaxaca, Alejandro Murat Hinojosa; And the Governor of Durango, José Rosas Aispuro.
In addition to the General Consul of Mexico in Los Angeles, Carlos García de Alba Zepeda; The Undersecretary of North America of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Manuel Sada Solana; The Head of the Office of the Executive, Natalia Rivera Grijalva, the Secretary of Economy, Jorge Vidal Ahumada.
END
Note: As usual mostly meant for illegal immigrants.
Don't even think of interfering in Mexico's affairs.
Because: "Mexico decides who enters our country"
"the decisions of who enters Mexico, are made by Mexico and only Mexico"
Luis Videgaray Caso, Mexican Foreign Minister
10 March, 2017
Comment: Could Pavlovich Arellano and Videgaray Caso be not Mexicans, but Russians?
Gracias / cпасибо
Governor Pavlovich presents online services for Sonoran migrants
Los Angeles, California, April 8, 2017.-
Http://www.elregionaldesonora.com.mx/noticia/66140
Governor Claudia Pavlovich Arellano stopped in Los Angeles, California, to maintain unity around Mexican migrants, to move forward together and for no one to stand in the way.
In continuing the work of the Conago delegation in Los Angeles, California, Governor Claudia Pavlovich Arellano signed the agreement to join efforts to the consular network in the United States, to offer legal advice and that required by nationals, regardless of their place of residence. Those with origin in Mexico.
In her capacity as Chair of the International Affairs Committee of the National Conference of Governors, Conago, along with 6 of her counterparts, as well as members of the Mexican Foreign Ministry, Governor Pavlovich presented online services that can be used by Sonorans in The United States, whose system, she said, is available to entities wishing to implement it.
At a meeting of the delegation of governors and foreign officials with the Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, Governor Pavlovich said that Sonoran migrants can for file birth, marriage and death certificates online from the United States.
This, she said, allows them to have an official identity document, an example that she proposed to be replicated for citizens from other states.
"I want to put into the hands of my fellow Governors this instrument that we have in Sonora, and that also serves us Sonorenses in California, which are online in minutes, birth certificates, marriage records and death certificates, It's very easy to get them out of your computer at home, "she said.
Mayor acknowledges Sonoran contribution to LA
The Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, acknowledged the contribution that Sonorans have made to the city's prosperity, recalling that it was the families of the state who founded it.
"Governor Pavlovich, I tell you that thousands of Angelians and visitors are coming through the history of this month, the enriching culture of this state, it is very important to have this approach for all residents of Los Angeles," he said.
United to protect migrants
Governor Claudia Pavlovich Arellano called for working together to protect Mexicans living in the United States, providing all kinds of legal counseling for themselves and their families. She said that although the times are complicated, only the this instrument will make the migrant the center of attention and joint effort of the federal and state governments.
"We have to be together, and I believe that in this time that we are going through difficult times or we are all moving towards the same path, or we are moving forward and leaving people by the way, and that is not the right thing to do, our people deserve to be treated as a human being, and the human being is the center of everything, and we must defend the most vulnerable, and especially at this moment the migrants who are having problems and who are in great fear, "he said.
The Governor of Morelos and President of the National Conference of Governors, Graco Ramírez, announced that among the agreements reached by the visit of the seven governors to Los Angeles was the approval of the centers for migrants in the states, to protect any citizen As well as making available to migrants legal counsel for the 50 consulates of Mexico in the United States.
"We agreed with our House of Attention to Migrants (Casa de Atención a Migrantes) in the United States, the creation of a network that will allow homologation of protocols of action," he said.
The following were present: Miguel Ángel Mancera, Head of Government of Mexico City; The Governor of Baja California, Francisco Vega de Lamadrid; The Governor of Guanajuato, Miguel Márquez Márquez; The Governor of Oaxaca, Alejandro Murat Hinojosa; And the Governor of Durango, José Rosas Aispuro.
In addition to the General Consul of Mexico in Los Angeles, Carlos García de Alba Zepeda; The Undersecretary of North America of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Manuel Sada Solana; The Head of the Office of the Executive, Natalia Rivera Grijalva, the Secretary of Economy, Jorge Vidal Ahumada.
END
Monday, April 17, 2017
AZMEX POLICY2 17-4-17
AZMEX POLICY2 17 APR 2017
Note: How many here already?
Thx
Venezuela illegally issued 10,000 passports to Syrians, Iranians, report says
Published April 17, 2017
FoxNews.com
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/04/17/venezuela-illegally-issued-10000-passports-to-syrians-iranians-report-says.html
http://www.el-nacional.com/noticias/politica/nuevo-herald-gobierno-entrego-unos-10000-pasaportes-ilegalmente_177474#
A former director of Venezuela's Office of Identification, Migration and Foreigners said that during his 17 months in the post, the socialist government gave at least 10,000 Venezuelan passports and other documents to citizens of Syria, Iran and other Middle Eastern countries.
In an interview with El Nuevo Herald, Colonel Vladimir Medrano Rengifo said the operation was headed by current Vice President Tareck El Aissami. He said most passports and visas were granted in the Venezuelan Consulate in Damascus, Syria's capital.
"Today we don't know where these people are, nor what they are doing," said Medrano, who currently resides in the United States.
"They can be anywhere in the world, traveling with Venezuelan documentation," adding that the number of Middle Eastern individuals with irregular Venezuelan documentation could be much larger.
Colonel Medrano was dismissed in October 2009 by El Aissami, who was then Minister of Interior and Justice. According to Medrano, El Aissami fired him because he knew he was trying to dismantle the human smuggling network.
El Aissami, one of the most powerful men in Venezuela, has long been investigated in the United States for his alleged links to drug trafficking and to the Islamist militant group Hezbollah.
In January he became the most senior Venezuelan official to ever be targeted by the U.S., when the Trump administration decreed sanctions against him and Samark Lopez, a wealthy Venezuelan businessman believed to be his front man in Miami.
In the Sunday interview, Medrano told El Nuevo Herald that El Aissami was directly involved in the passport scheme. He said that whenever his office reported irregularities involving Syria-issued passports, El Aissami ordered him to look the other way.
Medrano said the passports were legitimate, but the people carrying them were not Venezuelans.
"[El Aissami] called me every time these flights landed (…) and we tried to detain [the people carrying the suspicious passports]. He pressured us in an excessive manner so this would not be done and let his 'cousins' get in, as he called them," Medrano told the Herald.
Upon review by immigration officials at the airport, Medrano explained, the identity linked to those passports turned out to belong to deceased persons, with a different name.
Venezuela, once the wealthiest South American nation, has fallen on increasingly hard financial times since Nicolás Maduro took power following the death of socialist leader Hugo Chávez in 2013.
A drop in global oil prices has crippled the country's economy and Venezuela has been plagued with the worst inflation rate in the world, close to 700 per cent last year, according to International Monetary Fund.
In this May 31, 2016 photo, Pedro Hernandez, left, and his friend Luis Daza, pick up tomatoes from the trash area of the Coche public market in Caracas, Venezuela. At Coche, even once middle class Venezuelans made desperate by the country's economic collapse have taken to sifting through the trash to resell or feed themselves on discarded fruits and vegetables. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Venezuelans pick through trash for food to eat or sell
Across town, unemployed people converge every dusk at a trash heap on a downtown Caracas sidewalk to pick through rotten fruit and vegetables tossed out by nearby shops.
END
Note: How many here already?
Thx
Venezuela illegally issued 10,000 passports to Syrians, Iranians, report says
Published April 17, 2017
FoxNews.com
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/04/17/venezuela-illegally-issued-10000-passports-to-syrians-iranians-report-says.html
http://www.el-nacional.com/noticias/politica/nuevo-herald-gobierno-entrego-unos-10000-pasaportes-ilegalmente_177474#
A former director of Venezuela's Office of Identification, Migration and Foreigners said that during his 17 months in the post, the socialist government gave at least 10,000 Venezuelan passports and other documents to citizens of Syria, Iran and other Middle Eastern countries.
In an interview with El Nuevo Herald, Colonel Vladimir Medrano Rengifo said the operation was headed by current Vice President Tareck El Aissami. He said most passports and visas were granted in the Venezuelan Consulate in Damascus, Syria's capital.
"Today we don't know where these people are, nor what they are doing," said Medrano, who currently resides in the United States.
"They can be anywhere in the world, traveling with Venezuelan documentation," adding that the number of Middle Eastern individuals with irregular Venezuelan documentation could be much larger.
Colonel Medrano was dismissed in October 2009 by El Aissami, who was then Minister of Interior and Justice. According to Medrano, El Aissami fired him because he knew he was trying to dismantle the human smuggling network.
El Aissami, one of the most powerful men in Venezuela, has long been investigated in the United States for his alleged links to drug trafficking and to the Islamist militant group Hezbollah.
In January he became the most senior Venezuelan official to ever be targeted by the U.S., when the Trump administration decreed sanctions against him and Samark Lopez, a wealthy Venezuelan businessman believed to be his front man in Miami.
In the Sunday interview, Medrano told El Nuevo Herald that El Aissami was directly involved in the passport scheme. He said that whenever his office reported irregularities involving Syria-issued passports, El Aissami ordered him to look the other way.
Medrano said the passports were legitimate, but the people carrying them were not Venezuelans.
"[El Aissami] called me every time these flights landed (…) and we tried to detain [the people carrying the suspicious passports]. He pressured us in an excessive manner so this would not be done and let his 'cousins' get in, as he called them," Medrano told the Herald.
Upon review by immigration officials at the airport, Medrano explained, the identity linked to those passports turned out to belong to deceased persons, with a different name.
Venezuela, once the wealthiest South American nation, has fallen on increasingly hard financial times since Nicolás Maduro took power following the death of socialist leader Hugo Chávez in 2013.
A drop in global oil prices has crippled the country's economy and Venezuela has been plagued with the worst inflation rate in the world, close to 700 per cent last year, according to International Monetary Fund.
In this May 31, 2016 photo, Pedro Hernandez, left, and his friend Luis Daza, pick up tomatoes from the trash area of the Coche public market in Caracas, Venezuela. At Coche, even once middle class Venezuelans made desperate by the country's economic collapse have taken to sifting through the trash to resell or feed themselves on discarded fruits and vegetables. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Venezuelans pick through trash for food to eat or sell
Across town, unemployed people converge every dusk at a trash heap on a downtown Caracas sidewalk to pick through rotten fruit and vegetables tossed out by nearby shops.
END
AZMEX POLICY 17-4-17
AZMEX POLICY 17 APR 2017
Note: from CNN.
Supreme Court won't hear case challenging government's expedited removal of undocumented immigrants
By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter
Updated 10:44 AM ET, Mon April 17, 2017
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/17/politics/supreme-court-castro-expedited-removal/index.html
Story highlights
The case was initially brought under the Obama administration
The case comes as the Trump administration has vowed to more strictly enforce immigration laws
(CNN)The Supreme Court on Monday left in place a lower court opinion rejecting claims by undocumented Central American women and children -- who were apprehended immediately after arriving in the country without authorization -- seeking asylum.
Lawyers for the families sought to challenge their expedited removal proceedings in federal court arguing they face gender-based violence at home, but a Philadelphia-based federal appeals court held that they have no right to judicial review of such claims.
The court's action means the government can continue to deny asylum seekers placed in expedited removal a chance to have their cases heard by federal court.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, who has his first full week on the court starting Monday, did not participate in the decision.
The case, initially brought under the Obama administration, comes as the Trump administration has vowed to more strictly enforce immigration laws.
Originally, 28 mothers and their children entered the US border in Texas in late 2015. They were immediately placed in expedited removal proceedings. Represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, they argue they suffered "gender-based violence, including sexual assault, by men from whom they could not escape" and that they were targeted by gangs because "they are single women residing without a male household member to protect them." They sought to challenge their removal proceedings in federal court, arguing that they did not receive substantive procedural rights to which they were entitled.
A federal appeals court ruled against the petitioners, arguing that Congress could deny review for those who have been denied initial entry into the country who were apprehended close to the border. The court essentially treated the petitioners as equal to those who arrived at the border but had not yet entered.
"We conclude that Congress may, consonant with the Constitution, deny habeas review in federal court of claims relating to an alien's application for admission to the country, at least as to aliens who have been denied initial entry or who, like Petitioners, were apprehended very near the border and, essentially, immediately after surreptitious entry into the country," wrote the majority of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Lee Gelernt, of the ACLU, argued the lower court decision was wrong in part because individuals who have entered the country "cannot be treated as noncitizens arriving at the border and thereby denied constitutional rights, particularly habeas corpus rights."
In court papers, the US government countered that the families were allowed to meet with an asylum officer who held that they had not established a "credible fear of persecution."
Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall argued the lower court got the decision right.
"The court simply held that such aliens may not invoke the Constitution to demand procedural steps or measures regarding their applications for admission beyond those provided by existing statutes and regulations," he wrote.
END
Note: from CNN.
Supreme Court won't hear case challenging government's expedited removal of undocumented immigrants
By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter
Updated 10:44 AM ET, Mon April 17, 2017
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/17/politics/supreme-court-castro-expedited-removal/index.html
Story highlights
The case was initially brought under the Obama administration
The case comes as the Trump administration has vowed to more strictly enforce immigration laws
(CNN)The Supreme Court on Monday left in place a lower court opinion rejecting claims by undocumented Central American women and children -- who were apprehended immediately after arriving in the country without authorization -- seeking asylum.
Lawyers for the families sought to challenge their expedited removal proceedings in federal court arguing they face gender-based violence at home, but a Philadelphia-based federal appeals court held that they have no right to judicial review of such claims.
The court's action means the government can continue to deny asylum seekers placed in expedited removal a chance to have their cases heard by federal court.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, who has his first full week on the court starting Monday, did not participate in the decision.
The case, initially brought under the Obama administration, comes as the Trump administration has vowed to more strictly enforce immigration laws.
Originally, 28 mothers and their children entered the US border in Texas in late 2015. They were immediately placed in expedited removal proceedings. Represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, they argue they suffered "gender-based violence, including sexual assault, by men from whom they could not escape" and that they were targeted by gangs because "they are single women residing without a male household member to protect them." They sought to challenge their removal proceedings in federal court, arguing that they did not receive substantive procedural rights to which they were entitled.
A federal appeals court ruled against the petitioners, arguing that Congress could deny review for those who have been denied initial entry into the country who were apprehended close to the border. The court essentially treated the petitioners as equal to those who arrived at the border but had not yet entered.
"We conclude that Congress may, consonant with the Constitution, deny habeas review in federal court of claims relating to an alien's application for admission to the country, at least as to aliens who have been denied initial entry or who, like Petitioners, were apprehended very near the border and, essentially, immediately after surreptitious entry into the country," wrote the majority of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Lee Gelernt, of the ACLU, argued the lower court decision was wrong in part because individuals who have entered the country "cannot be treated as noncitizens arriving at the border and thereby denied constitutional rights, particularly habeas corpus rights."
In court papers, the US government countered that the families were allowed to meet with an asylum officer who held that they had not established a "credible fear of persecution."
Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall argued the lower court got the decision right.
"The court simply held that such aliens may not invoke the Constitution to demand procedural steps or measures regarding their applications for admission beyond those provided by existing statutes and regulations," he wrote.
END
AZMEX POLICY 15-4-17
AZMEX POLICY 15 APR 2017
Note: Numerous reports cite illegals with multiple deportations. Usually only makes the media when they are charged / convicted of other crimes.
A sample: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/6/kate-steinle-kates-law-congress-gets-another-chanc/
thx
Arizona prosecutors work to comply with AG Sessions' orders on border crimes
ASSOCIATED PRESS |
April 15, 2017 @ 7:52 am
https://ktar.com/story/1529860/us-prosecutors-geared-target-border-crossers-2/
SAN DIEGO — Through Republican and Democratic presidential administrations, the top federal prosecutor on California's border with Mexico has resisted going after people caught entering the U.S. illegally on their first try and instead targeted smugglers and serial offenders.
That approach may face a day of reckoning under President Donald Trump.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions' new directive on border crimes suggests prosecutors in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas will be forced to tow a narrow line.
He said each should consider felony prosecution for anyone convicted twice of entering illegally and develop plans to target first-time offenders and charge them with misdemeanors that could send them to jail for up to six months.
The president and attorney general typically set broad priorities for the Justice Department's 94 appointed U.S. attorneys and give them significant leeway. Prosecutors in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona have taken a stance closer to what Sessions wants.
Not so in California's Southern District covering about 140 miles of border from San Diego to Yuma, Arizona.
Peter Nunez, the top federal prosecutor in the district from 1982 to 1985 who believes the change is long overdue, said Trump is the first president since Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s to make immigration enforcement a top priority and U.S. attorneys "will not be able to ignore that."
Immigration cases already make up about half of arrests in federal courts and more along the 2,000-mile border with Mexico. Any increase is likely to meet resistance from some judges and prosecutors in California.
James Stiven, a retired federal judge in San Diego, told the U.S. Sentencing Commission last year that the California border district chose its cases carefully, "preserving resources throughout the federal criminal-justice system rather than squandering them on unproven `zero-tolerance' approaches." Of the proposed shift announced by Sessions on Tuesday, he said, "I can't imagine it would be well-received by the judges."
Carol Lam, who was named U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California in 2002 by President George W. Bush and forced to resign nearly five years later, prosecuted fewer immigrant smuggling cases and turned limited resources on "the most dangerous offenders," according to a report by the U.S. Justice Department's internal watchdog on the bungled dismissals of Lam and eight other U.S. attorneys.
The Justice Department's inspector general concluded Lam's low immigration and firearms caseloads led to her firing. Some Republican members of Congress and at least one Democrat, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, questioned Lam's record on immigration.
But her successor, Karen Hewitt, took a similar approach to immigration from 2007 to 2010. By the time Hewitt left, most border districts had embraced zero-tolerance policies. There were 70 crossers shackled together at the ankles each day for lightning-quick appearances at the federal courthouse in Tucson, Arizona, and 80 a day in tiny Del Rio, Texas.
First-time offenders generally spent less than a week behind bars but their misdemeanor convictions exposed them to felonies if caught again.
Prosecutions of low-level border crossers more than quadrupled from 2002 to 2008 to more than 50,000 a year, while smuggling cases climbed modestly and drug cases fell sharply in border districts, according to a 2010 article by Joanna Lydgate in the California Law Review.
Hewitt focused on smugglers and generally avoided prosecutions of first-time crossers. She told Lydgate that her approach was "consistent with what the public (in the Southern District of California) would like to see."
Laura Duffy, Hewitt's successor, hewed to the same strategy until she resigned in December to become a state judge. U.S. attorneys often change under new administrations, and Trump is expected to name permanent replacements soon.
END
Note: Numerous reports cite illegals with multiple deportations. Usually only makes the media when they are charged / convicted of other crimes.
A sample: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/6/kate-steinle-kates-law-congress-gets-another-chanc/
thx
Arizona prosecutors work to comply with AG Sessions' orders on border crimes
ASSOCIATED PRESS |
April 15, 2017 @ 7:52 am
https://ktar.com/story/1529860/us-prosecutors-geared-target-border-crossers-2/
SAN DIEGO — Through Republican and Democratic presidential administrations, the top federal prosecutor on California's border with Mexico has resisted going after people caught entering the U.S. illegally on their first try and instead targeted smugglers and serial offenders.
That approach may face a day of reckoning under President Donald Trump.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions' new directive on border crimes suggests prosecutors in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas will be forced to tow a narrow line.
He said each should consider felony prosecution for anyone convicted twice of entering illegally and develop plans to target first-time offenders and charge them with misdemeanors that could send them to jail for up to six months.
The president and attorney general typically set broad priorities for the Justice Department's 94 appointed U.S. attorneys and give them significant leeway. Prosecutors in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona have taken a stance closer to what Sessions wants.
Not so in California's Southern District covering about 140 miles of border from San Diego to Yuma, Arizona.
Peter Nunez, the top federal prosecutor in the district from 1982 to 1985 who believes the change is long overdue, said Trump is the first president since Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s to make immigration enforcement a top priority and U.S. attorneys "will not be able to ignore that."
Immigration cases already make up about half of arrests in federal courts and more along the 2,000-mile border with Mexico. Any increase is likely to meet resistance from some judges and prosecutors in California.
James Stiven, a retired federal judge in San Diego, told the U.S. Sentencing Commission last year that the California border district chose its cases carefully, "preserving resources throughout the federal criminal-justice system rather than squandering them on unproven `zero-tolerance' approaches." Of the proposed shift announced by Sessions on Tuesday, he said, "I can't imagine it would be well-received by the judges."
Carol Lam, who was named U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California in 2002 by President George W. Bush and forced to resign nearly five years later, prosecuted fewer immigrant smuggling cases and turned limited resources on "the most dangerous offenders," according to a report by the U.S. Justice Department's internal watchdog on the bungled dismissals of Lam and eight other U.S. attorneys.
The Justice Department's inspector general concluded Lam's low immigration and firearms caseloads led to her firing. Some Republican members of Congress and at least one Democrat, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, questioned Lam's record on immigration.
But her successor, Karen Hewitt, took a similar approach to immigration from 2007 to 2010. By the time Hewitt left, most border districts had embraced zero-tolerance policies. There were 70 crossers shackled together at the ankles each day for lightning-quick appearances at the federal courthouse in Tucson, Arizona, and 80 a day in tiny Del Rio, Texas.
First-time offenders generally spent less than a week behind bars but their misdemeanor convictions exposed them to felonies if caught again.
Prosecutions of low-level border crossers more than quadrupled from 2002 to 2008 to more than 50,000 a year, while smuggling cases climbed modestly and drug cases fell sharply in border districts, according to a 2010 article by Joanna Lydgate in the California Law Review.
Hewitt focused on smugglers and generally avoided prosecutions of first-time crossers. She told Lydgate that her approach was "consistent with what the public (in the Southern District of California) would like to see."
Laura Duffy, Hewitt's successor, hewed to the same strategy until she resigned in December to become a state judge. U.S. attorneys often change under new administrations, and Trump is expected to name permanent replacements soon.
END
Friday, April 14, 2017
AZMEX UPDATE2 14-4-17
AZMEX UPDATE2 14 APR 2017
Note: Rocky Point shooting photos of patrol car at link:
Repel armed aggression in Puerto Peñasco; No injuries
El Imparcial | 4/14/2017 1:17 PM
Http://www.elimparcial.com/EdicionEnLinea/Notas/Sonora/14042017/1203813-Repelen-agresion-armada-en-Puerto-Penasco-no-hay-lesionados.html
PUERTO PEÑASCO, Sonora (GH)
The mixed coordinated group of members of the State Police for Public Security (PESP) and Municipal Police were unharmed after repelling the aggression of the individuals who were shooting at them as they were in a vehicle chase.
The facts were presented in the colonia López Portillo when PESP officers answered a call via C4 at dawn, where the Municipal Police requested support in the pursuit of a black double cab, Silverado Pick Up , with gunshots from the occupants of the reported vehicle.
When arriving at the place, the officers of the PESP that attended the call were attacked by the crew of the pickup, the officers returned fire to repel the aggression.
It was in on calle Samuel Ocaña and Dimas Noriega where they were captured the above-mentioned vehicle, the firearms, as well as two subjects, so it will be the Attorney General's Office who will take care of the corresponding legal procedures.
END
Note: Rocky Point shooting photos of patrol car at link:
Repel armed aggression in Puerto Peñasco; No injuries
El Imparcial | 4/14/2017 1:17 PM
Http://www.elimparcial.com/EdicionEnLinea/Notas/Sonora/14042017/1203813-Repelen-agresion-armada-en-Puerto-Penasco-no-hay-lesionados.html
PUERTO PEÑASCO, Sonora (GH)
The mixed coordinated group of members of the State Police for Public Security (PESP) and Municipal Police were unharmed after repelling the aggression of the individuals who were shooting at them as they were in a vehicle chase.
The facts were presented in the colonia López Portillo when PESP officers answered a call via C4 at dawn, where the Municipal Police requested support in the pursuit of a black double cab, Silverado Pick Up , with gunshots from the occupants of the reported vehicle.
When arriving at the place, the officers of the PESP that attended the call were attacked by the crew of the pickup, the officers returned fire to repel the aggression.
It was in on calle Samuel Ocaña and Dimas Noriega where they were captured the above-mentioned vehicle, the firearms, as well as two subjects, so it will be the Attorney General's Office who will take care of the corresponding legal procedures.
END
AZMEX I3-2 14-4-17
AZMEX I3-2 14 APR 2017
Note: "young (illegal) immigration advocates"
A reminder:
"Mexico decides who enters our country"
"the decisions of who enters Mexico, are made by Mexico and only Mexico"
Luis Videgaray Caso, Mexican Foreign Minister
10 March, 2017
Http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=87134
end
Student volunteers visit ICE detainees at Eloy facility
By CHARLENE SANTIAGO Cronkite News Apr 13, 2017 Updated 24 min ago (0)
http://www.pinalcentral.com/casa_grande_dispatch/area_news/student-volunteers-visit-ice-detainees-at-eloy-facility/article_15420acd-0a20-5520-bd85-08a6bd780d28.html
The Eloy Detention Center houses more than 1,500 inmates.
ELOY -- Sandra Ojeda is familiar with search procedures and the visitor registration process at the Eloy Detention Center.
She carried nothing but a sheet of paper with the names of six U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees and their A-number — identification issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to undocumented immigrants.
She assigned one detainee to each first-time visitor.
Welcome to one of the country's largest detention facility where young immigration advocates make time to visit men and women they have never met before.
Four college students arrived with Ojeda at the privately-owned detention center. They had no prior relationship with the people with whom they would spend an hour talking on an early Saturday morning. The students were nervous and uncertain, but Ojeda guided them through the process.
Yvonne Bueno, a sophomore at Arizona State University, visited for the first time and said she made the trip from Phoenix not knowing what to expect.
"I went through with it because I knew it was important," she said.
Bueno was assigned by Ojeda to visit Jorge Castillo. According to Bueno, Castillo has been detained in Eloy for approximately 16 months when they met. Visits are promised to last at least one hour, but they vary depending on the number of visitors waiting in the lobby.
As the hour passed slowly for Bueno, she said Castillo did not have much to talk about. Bueno said she noticed how Castillo showed his lack of trust through silence. She couldn't avoid feeling helpless, she said.
"I sat there knowing there isn't anything I can do to help these individuals get out, but I wanted to try my best to do anything I could," she said as she recalled her experience.
Juan Cornejo, a former Eloy detainee, said visits are important for an inmate's mental and emotional health. "It's a daily mental battle when you're in there," Cornejo said as he recalled his incarceration.
Now free and seeking asylum, Cornejo and his wife Ojeda organize and coordinate regular visits to Eloy as an act of support and solidarity. Cornejo said he appreciated the time volunteers invested in accompanying him when his family couldn't make the trip. "Visit hours are times for you (detainee) to breathe, feel calm, and forget about the problems that haunt you in there," he said.
Ojeda is notified by inmates of fellow detainees who haven't had many visits. Sergio Ledezma Caballero has been detained for two years and provides Ojeda with names and A-numbers of detainees. Ledezma Caballero has received visits from volunteers.
Ledezma Caballero is being treated for depression. His father passed away in November and his wife Adela Lozano is suffering from a pulmonary embolism. As she takes care of her two teenage sons, Lozano isn't able to visit every weekend and Ojeda assigns Ledezma Caballero a visit from a volunteer.
Giovanni Cisneros, a first-time visitor, recognized the importance of the visits. Cisneros said he went with the intention to help the detainees gain some sense of humanity, "by simply being there and showing them that I care," he said. His experience was different from his peers.
Cisneros wasn't able to visit an inmate because he didn't have proper identification, but he saw family members registering as visitors, waiting in despair to see their loved ones. "I had no expectations when I went, but what I saw was the destruction of families," Cisneros said as he recalled seeing kids and families leaving their visits with tears in their eyes.
Sandra Cornejo, 19, arrived with Cisneros and Bueno for the first time as a visitor. She knew what to expect. She had already experienced visits in Eloy with Ojeda, her mother, when her father, Juan Cornejo, was detained for eight months. She said visiting a stranger was different than visiting her father.
"Visiting my dad, there was a feeling of hopelessness," Sandra Cornejo said. "While visiting a stranger, I felt as if I had some sort of power."
From her father's experience, she said she learned the importance visit hours can be for a detainee's day-to-day uncertainty.
Sandra Cornejo visited a young man who introduced himself as Juan. She said she was surprised to meet somebody under ICE custody that is her age and a father of twin girls. She said he was taken into custody by ICE when he was 18 and almost close to his high school graduation.
"I cannot imagine how hard it must be to have your freedom ripped away from you," she said as she recalled her conversation with him.
Although she said she was helping the detainees, Cornejo said she couldn't avoid thinking "what if" after every visit as a daughter and after her first time as a volunteer. "There is a worry of leaving them behind, "she said. "There have been many deaths in detention centers and every time I leave Eloy, I wonder if the person I just visited could be the next."
The detention center has made national headlines for its troubling conditions and its high suicide rates. As of 2015, Eloy accounted for 9 percent (14 deaths) of the nation's deaths in detention centers in the past 12 years.
Since 2013, volunteers have carpooled to detention centers in Arizona. Currently, the Puente Human Rights movement, which sponsors the deportation visits, is running an online fundraising campaign to purchase a new van that will provide families with reliable transportation to the immigration facilities.
Despite transportation challenges, Juan Cornejo said volunteers will continue to make regular visits and will transport those who have detained family members.
"We will keep visiting, with or without a van," he said in Spanish.
END
Note: "young (illegal) immigration advocates"
A reminder:
"Mexico decides who enters our country"
"the decisions of who enters Mexico, are made by Mexico and only Mexico"
Luis Videgaray Caso, Mexican Foreign Minister
10 March, 2017
Http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=87134
end
Student volunteers visit ICE detainees at Eloy facility
By CHARLENE SANTIAGO Cronkite News Apr 13, 2017 Updated 24 min ago (0)
http://www.pinalcentral.com/casa_grande_dispatch/area_news/student-volunteers-visit-ice-detainees-at-eloy-facility/article_15420acd-0a20-5520-bd85-08a6bd780d28.html
The Eloy Detention Center houses more than 1,500 inmates.
ELOY -- Sandra Ojeda is familiar with search procedures and the visitor registration process at the Eloy Detention Center.
She carried nothing but a sheet of paper with the names of six U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees and their A-number — identification issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to undocumented immigrants.
She assigned one detainee to each first-time visitor.
Welcome to one of the country's largest detention facility where young immigration advocates make time to visit men and women they have never met before.
Four college students arrived with Ojeda at the privately-owned detention center. They had no prior relationship with the people with whom they would spend an hour talking on an early Saturday morning. The students were nervous and uncertain, but Ojeda guided them through the process.
Yvonne Bueno, a sophomore at Arizona State University, visited for the first time and said she made the trip from Phoenix not knowing what to expect.
"I went through with it because I knew it was important," she said.
Bueno was assigned by Ojeda to visit Jorge Castillo. According to Bueno, Castillo has been detained in Eloy for approximately 16 months when they met. Visits are promised to last at least one hour, but they vary depending on the number of visitors waiting in the lobby.
As the hour passed slowly for Bueno, she said Castillo did not have much to talk about. Bueno said she noticed how Castillo showed his lack of trust through silence. She couldn't avoid feeling helpless, she said.
"I sat there knowing there isn't anything I can do to help these individuals get out, but I wanted to try my best to do anything I could," she said as she recalled her experience.
Juan Cornejo, a former Eloy detainee, said visits are important for an inmate's mental and emotional health. "It's a daily mental battle when you're in there," Cornejo said as he recalled his incarceration.
Now free and seeking asylum, Cornejo and his wife Ojeda organize and coordinate regular visits to Eloy as an act of support and solidarity. Cornejo said he appreciated the time volunteers invested in accompanying him when his family couldn't make the trip. "Visit hours are times for you (detainee) to breathe, feel calm, and forget about the problems that haunt you in there," he said.
Ojeda is notified by inmates of fellow detainees who haven't had many visits. Sergio Ledezma Caballero has been detained for two years and provides Ojeda with names and A-numbers of detainees. Ledezma Caballero has received visits from volunteers.
Ledezma Caballero is being treated for depression. His father passed away in November and his wife Adela Lozano is suffering from a pulmonary embolism. As she takes care of her two teenage sons, Lozano isn't able to visit every weekend and Ojeda assigns Ledezma Caballero a visit from a volunteer.
Giovanni Cisneros, a first-time visitor, recognized the importance of the visits. Cisneros said he went with the intention to help the detainees gain some sense of humanity, "by simply being there and showing them that I care," he said. His experience was different from his peers.
Cisneros wasn't able to visit an inmate because he didn't have proper identification, but he saw family members registering as visitors, waiting in despair to see their loved ones. "I had no expectations when I went, but what I saw was the destruction of families," Cisneros said as he recalled seeing kids and families leaving their visits with tears in their eyes.
Sandra Cornejo, 19, arrived with Cisneros and Bueno for the first time as a visitor. She knew what to expect. She had already experienced visits in Eloy with Ojeda, her mother, when her father, Juan Cornejo, was detained for eight months. She said visiting a stranger was different than visiting her father.
"Visiting my dad, there was a feeling of hopelessness," Sandra Cornejo said. "While visiting a stranger, I felt as if I had some sort of power."
From her father's experience, she said she learned the importance visit hours can be for a detainee's day-to-day uncertainty.
Sandra Cornejo visited a young man who introduced himself as Juan. She said she was surprised to meet somebody under ICE custody that is her age and a father of twin girls. She said he was taken into custody by ICE when he was 18 and almost close to his high school graduation.
"I cannot imagine how hard it must be to have your freedom ripped away from you," she said as she recalled her conversation with him.
Although she said she was helping the detainees, Cornejo said she couldn't avoid thinking "what if" after every visit as a daughter and after her first time as a volunteer. "There is a worry of leaving them behind, "she said. "There have been many deaths in detention centers and every time I leave Eloy, I wonder if the person I just visited could be the next."
The detention center has made national headlines for its troubling conditions and its high suicide rates. As of 2015, Eloy accounted for 9 percent (14 deaths) of the nation's deaths in detention centers in the past 12 years.
Since 2013, volunteers have carpooled to detention centers in Arizona. Currently, the Puente Human Rights movement, which sponsors the deportation visits, is running an online fundraising campaign to purchase a new van that will provide families with reliable transportation to the immigration facilities.
Despite transportation challenges, Juan Cornejo said volunteers will continue to make regular visits and will transport those who have detained family members.
"We will keep visiting, with or without a van," he said in Spanish.
END
AZMEX I3 14-4-17
AZMEX I3 14 APR 2017
Note: Despite the story, legally crossing is not a problem, as many do it every day. No Problemo.
"He hasn't made southern Mexico any less poor and violent, and he hasn't made the cartels any weaker."
¿Perhaps a job for EPN (President of Mexico) and the Mexican govt.?
thx
DETOUR
Fear of Trump Makes Migrants Disappear From Mexican Border
Their border-town shelter used to be full of migrants on their way to the United States. Now it stands nearly empty, thanks to America's president.
Betsy Woodruff
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/04/14/fear-of-trump-makes-migrants-disappear-from-mexican-border.html
04.13.17 10:13 PM ET
NOGALES, Mexico—In the 35 years Gilda and Juan Francisco Loureiro have been running a shelter in northern Mexico for undocumented immigrants, they've never seen a week like this one.
The shelter, called Albergue San Juan Bosco, is perched on a steep hillside looking over the busy border town of Nogales, Mexico. Its walls are painted bright turquoise and tangerine, and its wide-open double doors look west over low hills and Highway 15. Since they opened it, upward of 1 million people have slept there on their way to the U.S. But on the day I visited, it was almost empty.
It didn't used to be this way, Gilda and Juan Francisco, known as Paco, explained. In the decades since they opened the space to give migrants a place to shower and sleep before crossing the border, the shelter—with separate rooms full of bunkbeds for men and women—would regularly house 100 migrants per night. Sometimes, that number would hit 300 or more, and Gilda and Paco would pull out thin mattresses to fit everyone on the floor.
But today, those mattresses are neatly stacked in a closet, untouched. And the shelter is almost empty—no women travelers, and fewer than a dozen men. That's despite the fact that April, with its mild weather, should be the busiest time of year for migrants. The place is all but dead. Gilda and Paco have never seen anything like it.
They can only think of one explanation: President Donald Trump.
Trump hasn't yet made good on his bombastic campaign trail promises. The wall is still just a twinkle in his eye, and the deportation force hiring sprees haven't happened yet. ICE agents have conducted raids targeting undocumented immigrants, but they aren't actually that different in scale from raids that happened during the early years of the Obama administration.
But the symbolism of Trump in the Oval Office and the threat of extended detention has already deterred many migrants. Migrants are scared, explained Jose, a young Honduran man staying at the San Bosco shelter in hopes of getting to the U.S. They might be less scared in the future, he said, but for now they're waiting.
The Trump administration seems to have figured this out. In a speech on the Arizona side of the border the day before, Attorney General Jeff Sessions noted that the number of people caught illegally crossing the border had dropped by 72 percent from December 2016 to March 2017.
"This is no accident," Sessions told an audience of reporters and Customs and Border Protections officials.
He then detailed new priorities for federal prosecutors, including felony prosecutions in certain situations of people who re-enter the U.S. illegally after being deported. According to AllLaw.com, a felony conviction for illegal re-entry typically carries a sentence of up to two years.
The migrants who spoke to The Daily Beast hadn't heard of Jeff Sessions. But they'd heard about his plans.
"Is it true I'll go to prison for two years if I get arrested?" a Honduran man named Mynor asked in Spanish.
He said he'd been deported from the U.S. four times already, and that he hadn't been convicted of any crimes. But he'd spent several months in jails in Nevada, Texas, and Arizona before those deportations, he added, and he didn't want to go back.
The two-year rumor was correct, I explained. Then I asked why he kept trying to make it in the U.S. instead of returning to his native country.
"La violencia," he replied.
Still, the threat of two years in federal prison gave him second thoughts about making a fifth trip across the border, he added. Honduras is one of the most dangerous countries in the world, with rampant government corruption and extraordinary levels of cartel violence. Despite this, Trump has him considering going back.
Mynor and a handful of other migrants sat in a small chapel in the shelter waiting for dinner to be ready. A large picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe hung on the wall, and a nearly life-size crucifix draped with plastic rosary beads stood beside it. On a table in front, there was a pile of Know Your Rights pamphlets from the Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, a Mexican group, and the ACLU.
"Tus derechos humanos viajan contigo," one pamphlet read. "Porque ningún ser humano es ilegal…"
In English: Your human rights travel with you, because no human being is illegal.
Throughout the border town of Nogales, residents say it's strangely silent. The men who drive shuttles taking Mexicans who legally cross the border to Tucson and Phoenix have seen their business slow down—likely because many fear that having the legal right to enter the U.S. won't necessarily protect them from detention or deportation.
And the Kino Border Initiative, a Roman Catholic humanitarian aid group that provides food and clothing to recently deported migrants on the Mexico side, has seen things slow. Joanna Williams, the group's director of education and advocacy in the U.S., said their Mexican shelter would normally help 500 to 700 people every month. But in March, she added, they only worked with 200—likely because fewer people are being deported to Nogales, because fewer people are crossing the border there in the first place.
But Williams added that though the overall number of migrants crossing the border has dropped, the numbers from some parts of Mexico have risen significantly. Her group asks migrants to share what city and state of Mexico they came from—a valuable data trove—and noticed there's been an uptick in travelers from the city of Chilpancingo in the state of Guerrero on Mexico's southwest coast. A conflict between two cartels there has displaced 250,000 people, according to Sky News.
Williams said she expects the number of migrants crossing the border to go back up because Trump hasn't changed the structural realities that drive migration: He hasn't made southern Mexico any less poor and violent, and he hasn't made the cartels any weaker. The changes in the last month are significant, she said, but temporary.
Paco agreed.
"Mexicans are very stubborn," he said, "and there is not a wall that can restrain them."
end
Note: Despite the story, legally crossing is not a problem, as many do it every day. No Problemo.
"He hasn't made southern Mexico any less poor and violent, and he hasn't made the cartels any weaker."
¿Perhaps a job for EPN (President of Mexico) and the Mexican govt.?
thx
DETOUR
Fear of Trump Makes Migrants Disappear From Mexican Border
Their border-town shelter used to be full of migrants on their way to the United States. Now it stands nearly empty, thanks to America's president.
Betsy Woodruff
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/04/14/fear-of-trump-makes-migrants-disappear-from-mexican-border.html
04.13.17 10:13 PM ET
NOGALES, Mexico—In the 35 years Gilda and Juan Francisco Loureiro have been running a shelter in northern Mexico for undocumented immigrants, they've never seen a week like this one.
The shelter, called Albergue San Juan Bosco, is perched on a steep hillside looking over the busy border town of Nogales, Mexico. Its walls are painted bright turquoise and tangerine, and its wide-open double doors look west over low hills and Highway 15. Since they opened it, upward of 1 million people have slept there on their way to the U.S. But on the day I visited, it was almost empty.
It didn't used to be this way, Gilda and Juan Francisco, known as Paco, explained. In the decades since they opened the space to give migrants a place to shower and sleep before crossing the border, the shelter—with separate rooms full of bunkbeds for men and women—would regularly house 100 migrants per night. Sometimes, that number would hit 300 or more, and Gilda and Paco would pull out thin mattresses to fit everyone on the floor.
But today, those mattresses are neatly stacked in a closet, untouched. And the shelter is almost empty—no women travelers, and fewer than a dozen men. That's despite the fact that April, with its mild weather, should be the busiest time of year for migrants. The place is all but dead. Gilda and Paco have never seen anything like it.
They can only think of one explanation: President Donald Trump.
Trump hasn't yet made good on his bombastic campaign trail promises. The wall is still just a twinkle in his eye, and the deportation force hiring sprees haven't happened yet. ICE agents have conducted raids targeting undocumented immigrants, but they aren't actually that different in scale from raids that happened during the early years of the Obama administration.
But the symbolism of Trump in the Oval Office and the threat of extended detention has already deterred many migrants. Migrants are scared, explained Jose, a young Honduran man staying at the San Bosco shelter in hopes of getting to the U.S. They might be less scared in the future, he said, but for now they're waiting.
The Trump administration seems to have figured this out. In a speech on the Arizona side of the border the day before, Attorney General Jeff Sessions noted that the number of people caught illegally crossing the border had dropped by 72 percent from December 2016 to March 2017.
"This is no accident," Sessions told an audience of reporters and Customs and Border Protections officials.
He then detailed new priorities for federal prosecutors, including felony prosecutions in certain situations of people who re-enter the U.S. illegally after being deported. According to AllLaw.com, a felony conviction for illegal re-entry typically carries a sentence of up to two years.
The migrants who spoke to The Daily Beast hadn't heard of Jeff Sessions. But they'd heard about his plans.
"Is it true I'll go to prison for two years if I get arrested?" a Honduran man named Mynor asked in Spanish.
He said he'd been deported from the U.S. four times already, and that he hadn't been convicted of any crimes. But he'd spent several months in jails in Nevada, Texas, and Arizona before those deportations, he added, and he didn't want to go back.
The two-year rumor was correct, I explained. Then I asked why he kept trying to make it in the U.S. instead of returning to his native country.
"La violencia," he replied.
Still, the threat of two years in federal prison gave him second thoughts about making a fifth trip across the border, he added. Honduras is one of the most dangerous countries in the world, with rampant government corruption and extraordinary levels of cartel violence. Despite this, Trump has him considering going back.
Mynor and a handful of other migrants sat in a small chapel in the shelter waiting for dinner to be ready. A large picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe hung on the wall, and a nearly life-size crucifix draped with plastic rosary beads stood beside it. On a table in front, there was a pile of Know Your Rights pamphlets from the Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, a Mexican group, and the ACLU.
"Tus derechos humanos viajan contigo," one pamphlet read. "Porque ningún ser humano es ilegal…"
In English: Your human rights travel with you, because no human being is illegal.
Throughout the border town of Nogales, residents say it's strangely silent. The men who drive shuttles taking Mexicans who legally cross the border to Tucson and Phoenix have seen their business slow down—likely because many fear that having the legal right to enter the U.S. won't necessarily protect them from detention or deportation.
And the Kino Border Initiative, a Roman Catholic humanitarian aid group that provides food and clothing to recently deported migrants on the Mexico side, has seen things slow. Joanna Williams, the group's director of education and advocacy in the U.S., said their Mexican shelter would normally help 500 to 700 people every month. But in March, she added, they only worked with 200—likely because fewer people are being deported to Nogales, because fewer people are crossing the border there in the first place.
But Williams added that though the overall number of migrants crossing the border has dropped, the numbers from some parts of Mexico have risen significantly. Her group asks migrants to share what city and state of Mexico they came from—a valuable data trove—and noticed there's been an uptick in travelers from the city of Chilpancingo in the state of Guerrero on Mexico's southwest coast. A conflict between two cartels there has displaced 250,000 people, according to Sky News.
Williams said she expects the number of migrants crossing the border to go back up because Trump hasn't changed the structural realities that drive migration: He hasn't made southern Mexico any less poor and violent, and he hasn't made the cartels any weaker. The changes in the last month are significant, she said, but temporary.
Paco agreed.
"Mexicans are very stubborn," he said, "and there is not a wall that can restrain them."
end
AZMEX UPDATE 14-4-17
AZMEX UPDATE 14 APR 2017
Note: the lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity and Comrade Raul; attached.
Only 42 pages.
Thx
Note: the lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity and Comrade Raul; attached.
Only 42 pages.
Thx
Thursday, April 13, 2017
AZMEX F&F SPECIAL2 13-4-17
AZMEX F&F SPECIAL2 13 APR 2017
Fast & Furious - Mexican Lives Didn't Matter.
'Fast and Furious' Suspected Gunman Arrested in Mexico: Fox News
April 13, 2017 By Dave Workman
http://libertyparkpress.com/fast-furious-suspected-gunman-arrested-mexico-fox-news/
Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, shown here in a widely used image, was killed in a gun battle in December 2010. His death ignited the Fast and Furious scandal.
(Source: YouTube screen snip, Tales from Fast and Furious Part 1)
The suspected gunman who allegedly pulled the trigger on U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in December 2010, leading to the exposure of an Obama administration scandal called Operation Fast and Furious, has been arrested in Mexico, according to Fox News.
The story broke Wednesday under the byline of veteran reporter William Lajeunesse, one of a handful of journalists who doggedly pursued the scandal over the course of several years.
( http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/04/12/fast-and-furious-scandal-suspected-triggerman-in-border-agents-murder-arrested.html )
Now in jail is Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, an alleged drug cartel member who is suspected of firing the shot that killed Terry during an operation in southern Arizona. The gun he allegedly used was one of two recovered at the scene that were traced back to Fast and Furious, a mismanaged gun running sting mounted by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives during the Obama administration. The new development is also being reported in The Hill.
The operation allowed some 2,000 guns to be "walked" across the border and into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. Guns connected to the operation have continued to turn up at crime scenes. Many in the firearms community believed the operation was launched as an effort to discredit gun dealers and allow the administration to push for more restrictive gun control measures.
In what many believe was a politically-motivated move to exploit the debacle, the Obama administration instituted additional reporting requirements for firearms dealers in four states, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. This created the impression that gun dealers were somehow responsible for the "gun walking" scandal, according to many critics. But dealers directly involved had been working with ATF agents, and e-mails recovered during an investigation of the operation showed at least one retailer who expressed grave concerns about the operation.
While the story was reported, and given national attention by then-CBS investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson's interview of an ATF whistleblower who helped expose the scandal, the dominant mainstream media largely ignored it. Many in the firearms community believe the reason was so that the Obama administration would not be tarnished by a scandal that resulted in the death of an American law enforcement officer, and untold numbers of Mexican citizens.
The scandal was initially uncovered by two online writers, David Codrea, writing at the time for Examiner.com, and the late "citizen journalist" Mike Vanderboegh, who died last year. Both Codrea and Attkisson earned awards for their work on the story.
Fast and Furious became the subject of congressional hearings before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. During one of those sessions, an ATF agent dubbed the operation a "perfect storm of idiocy." The scandal resulted in the resignation of former U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke, the Arizona Republic recalled.
Initially, Capitol Hill involvement started in the office of Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley and ultimately led to the House investigation under California Congressman Darrell Issa, then chair of the Oversight Committee. Issa and fellow Republicans on the committee pushed the Justice Department and then-Attorney General Eric Holder for thousands of documents. When Holder refused to turn over some of those documents, former President Barack Obama extended executive privilege, but that was eventually overturned by a federal court.
Holder became the first sitting attorney general to be held in contempt of Congress, in 2012, and he eventually stepped down, to be replaced by Loretta Lynch.
According to Fox News, Osorio-Arellanes was nabbed "by a joint U.S.-Mexico law enforcement task force that included the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals and the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC)."
At least one book was written about Fast and Furious, and images of Terry have been widely circulated on social media in the six-plus years since his death. A Border patrol station was named after him.
Liberty Park Press has reached out to Issa for a reaction to this latest development.
END
Fast and Furious scandal: Suspected triggerman in border agent's murder arrested
By William Lajeunesse, Laura Prabucki Published April 12, 2017 FoxNews.com
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/04/12/fast-and-furious-scandal-suspected-triggerman-in-border-agents-murder-arrested.html
Agent Brian A. Terry, 40, was killed on Dec. 14 near Rio Rico, Ariz., according to a statement released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials. (FNC)
EXCLUSIVE – The cartel member suspected of shooting and killing Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in 2010 with a gun supplied by the U.S. government was arrested in Mexico Wednesday, senior law enforcement, Border Patrol, and congressional sources told Fox News.
The suspect, Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, was apprehended by a joint U.S.-Mexico law enforcement task force that included the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals and the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC).
A $250,000 reward had been sought for information leading to the arrest of Osorio-Arellanes, who was captured at a ranch on the border of the Mexican states of Sinaloa and Chihuahua. U.S. authorities have said they will seek his extradition.
Terry was killed on Dec. 14, 2010 in a gunfight between Border Patrol agents and members of a five-man cartel "rip crew," which regularly patrolled the desert along the U.S.-Mexico border looking for drug dealers to rob.
The agent's death exposed Operation Fast and Furious, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) operation in which the federal government allowed criminals to buy guns in Phoenix-area shops with the intention of tracking them once they made their way into Mexico. But the agency lost track of more than 1,400 of the 2,000 guns they allowed smugglers to buy. Two of those guns were found at the scene of Terry's killing.
The operation set off a political firestorm, and then-Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt of Congress after he refused to divulge documents for a congressional investigation.
Four members of the "rip crew" already been sentenced to jail time in the U.S. Manual Osorio-Arellanes was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in February 2014.
In October 2015, Ivan Soto-Barraza and Jesus Sanchez-Meza were convicted by a federal jury of nine different charges, including first-degree murder and attempted armed robbery.
Rosario Rafael Burboa-Alvarez, accused of assembling the "rip crew," was sentenced to 27 years in prison after striking a plea agreement with prosecutors.
The last remaining member of the "rip crew," Jesus Rosario Favela-Astorga, is believed to still be at large.
END
Fast & Furious - Mexican Lives Didn't Matter.
'Fast and Furious' Suspected Gunman Arrested in Mexico: Fox News
April 13, 2017 By Dave Workman
http://libertyparkpress.com/fast-furious-suspected-gunman-arrested-mexico-fox-news/
Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, shown here in a widely used image, was killed in a gun battle in December 2010. His death ignited the Fast and Furious scandal.
(Source: YouTube screen snip, Tales from Fast and Furious Part 1)
The suspected gunman who allegedly pulled the trigger on U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in December 2010, leading to the exposure of an Obama administration scandal called Operation Fast and Furious, has been arrested in Mexico, according to Fox News.
The story broke Wednesday under the byline of veteran reporter William Lajeunesse, one of a handful of journalists who doggedly pursued the scandal over the course of several years.
( http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/04/12/fast-and-furious-scandal-suspected-triggerman-in-border-agents-murder-arrested.html )
Now in jail is Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, an alleged drug cartel member who is suspected of firing the shot that killed Terry during an operation in southern Arizona. The gun he allegedly used was one of two recovered at the scene that were traced back to Fast and Furious, a mismanaged gun running sting mounted by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives during the Obama administration. The new development is also being reported in The Hill.
The operation allowed some 2,000 guns to be "walked" across the border and into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. Guns connected to the operation have continued to turn up at crime scenes. Many in the firearms community believed the operation was launched as an effort to discredit gun dealers and allow the administration to push for more restrictive gun control measures.
In what many believe was a politically-motivated move to exploit the debacle, the Obama administration instituted additional reporting requirements for firearms dealers in four states, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. This created the impression that gun dealers were somehow responsible for the "gun walking" scandal, according to many critics. But dealers directly involved had been working with ATF agents, and e-mails recovered during an investigation of the operation showed at least one retailer who expressed grave concerns about the operation.
While the story was reported, and given national attention by then-CBS investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson's interview of an ATF whistleblower who helped expose the scandal, the dominant mainstream media largely ignored it. Many in the firearms community believe the reason was so that the Obama administration would not be tarnished by a scandal that resulted in the death of an American law enforcement officer, and untold numbers of Mexican citizens.
The scandal was initially uncovered by two online writers, David Codrea, writing at the time for Examiner.com, and the late "citizen journalist" Mike Vanderboegh, who died last year. Both Codrea and Attkisson earned awards for their work on the story.
Fast and Furious became the subject of congressional hearings before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. During one of those sessions, an ATF agent dubbed the operation a "perfect storm of idiocy." The scandal resulted in the resignation of former U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke, the Arizona Republic recalled.
Initially, Capitol Hill involvement started in the office of Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley and ultimately led to the House investigation under California Congressman Darrell Issa, then chair of the Oversight Committee. Issa and fellow Republicans on the committee pushed the Justice Department and then-Attorney General Eric Holder for thousands of documents. When Holder refused to turn over some of those documents, former President Barack Obama extended executive privilege, but that was eventually overturned by a federal court.
Holder became the first sitting attorney general to be held in contempt of Congress, in 2012, and he eventually stepped down, to be replaced by Loretta Lynch.
According to Fox News, Osorio-Arellanes was nabbed "by a joint U.S.-Mexico law enforcement task force that included the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals and the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC)."
At least one book was written about Fast and Furious, and images of Terry have been widely circulated on social media in the six-plus years since his death. A Border patrol station was named after him.
Liberty Park Press has reached out to Issa for a reaction to this latest development.
END
Fast and Furious scandal: Suspected triggerman in border agent's murder arrested
By William Lajeunesse, Laura Prabucki Published April 12, 2017 FoxNews.com
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/04/12/fast-and-furious-scandal-suspected-triggerman-in-border-agents-murder-arrested.html
Agent Brian A. Terry, 40, was killed on Dec. 14 near Rio Rico, Ariz., according to a statement released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials. (FNC)
EXCLUSIVE – The cartel member suspected of shooting and killing Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in 2010 with a gun supplied by the U.S. government was arrested in Mexico Wednesday, senior law enforcement, Border Patrol, and congressional sources told Fox News.
The suspect, Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, was apprehended by a joint U.S.-Mexico law enforcement task force that included the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals and the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC).
A $250,000 reward had been sought for information leading to the arrest of Osorio-Arellanes, who was captured at a ranch on the border of the Mexican states of Sinaloa and Chihuahua. U.S. authorities have said they will seek his extradition.
Terry was killed on Dec. 14, 2010 in a gunfight between Border Patrol agents and members of a five-man cartel "rip crew," which regularly patrolled the desert along the U.S.-Mexico border looking for drug dealers to rob.
The agent's death exposed Operation Fast and Furious, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) operation in which the federal government allowed criminals to buy guns in Phoenix-area shops with the intention of tracking them once they made their way into Mexico. But the agency lost track of more than 1,400 of the 2,000 guns they allowed smugglers to buy. Two of those guns were found at the scene of Terry's killing.
The operation set off a political firestorm, and then-Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt of Congress after he refused to divulge documents for a congressional investigation.
Four members of the "rip crew" already been sentenced to jail time in the U.S. Manual Osorio-Arellanes was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in February 2014.
In October 2015, Ivan Soto-Barraza and Jesus Sanchez-Meza were convicted by a federal jury of nine different charges, including first-degree murder and attempted armed robbery.
Rosario Rafael Burboa-Alvarez, accused of assembling the "rip crew," was sentenced to 27 years in prison after striking a plea agreement with prosecutors.
The last remaining member of the "rip crew," Jesus Rosario Favela-Astorga, is believed to still be at large.
END
AZMEX F&F SPECIAL 13-4-17
AZMEX F&F SPECIAL 13 APR 2017
Note: Fast & Furious - Mexican Lives didn't Matter.
Also: . "catch trafficking kingpins"? Sure, just like in the movies.
Given the people behind the scheme, it strongly believed that the real motive was to attack 2nd Amendment Rights and restore the semiautomatic rifle ban.
Those behind the scheme have yet to face justice. But then, Mexican Lives didn't Matter.
thx
Report: Man who killed Border Patrol agent in Arizona arrested
BY KTAR.COM | April 12, 2017 @ 4:06 pm
http://ktar.com/story/1527811/man-killed-border-patrol-agent-arizona-arrested/
Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry (AP Photo)
PHOENIX — A man who allegedly shot and killed a Border Patrol agent in Arizona several years ago was reportedly arrested in Mexico on Wednesday.
Fox News reported Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes was captured on a ranch on the border of Mexican states Sinaloa and Chihuahua.
Officials believe Osorio-Arellanes was the gunman who killed Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in 2010. A $250,000 reward was being offered for information in the case.
Two other men, Ivan Soto-Barraza and Jesus Leonel Sanchez-Meza, were found guilty of Terry's murder in 2015, though it was still thought Osorio-Arellanes killed Terry.
The three men were working as part of a rip crew that robs drug smugglers along the U.S.-Mexico border when they ran into Terry's patrol. A shootout ensued and Terry was killed.
One of the rip crew members was injured. That man was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Osorio-Arellanes allegedly used a gun that was supplied by the U.S. government in a failed gun-tracking operation.
Operation Fast and Furious, the gun-smuggling effort, was launched in 2009 to catch trafficking kingpins, but federal agents lost track of about 1,400 of the more than 2,000 weapons — including AK-47s and other high-powered assault rifles.
Two of the guns purchased illegally with the government's knowledge were found at the site where Terry was killed near Nogales in 2010.
END
Note: Fast & Furious - Mexican Lives didn't Matter.
Also: . "catch trafficking kingpins"? Sure, just like in the movies.
Given the people behind the scheme, it strongly believed that the real motive was to attack 2nd Amendment Rights and restore the semiautomatic rifle ban.
Those behind the scheme have yet to face justice. But then, Mexican Lives didn't Matter.
thx
Report: Man who killed Border Patrol agent in Arizona arrested
BY KTAR.COM | April 12, 2017 @ 4:06 pm
http://ktar.com/story/1527811/man-killed-border-patrol-agent-arizona-arrested/
Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry (AP Photo)
PHOENIX — A man who allegedly shot and killed a Border Patrol agent in Arizona several years ago was reportedly arrested in Mexico on Wednesday.
Fox News reported Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes was captured on a ranch on the border of Mexican states Sinaloa and Chihuahua.
Officials believe Osorio-Arellanes was the gunman who killed Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in 2010. A $250,000 reward was being offered for information in the case.
Two other men, Ivan Soto-Barraza and Jesus Leonel Sanchez-Meza, were found guilty of Terry's murder in 2015, though it was still thought Osorio-Arellanes killed Terry.
The three men were working as part of a rip crew that robs drug smugglers along the U.S.-Mexico border when they ran into Terry's patrol. A shootout ensued and Terry was killed.
One of the rip crew members was injured. That man was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Osorio-Arellanes allegedly used a gun that was supplied by the U.S. government in a failed gun-tracking operation.
Operation Fast and Furious, the gun-smuggling effort, was launched in 2009 to catch trafficking kingpins, but federal agents lost track of about 1,400 of the more than 2,000 weapons — including AK-47s and other high-powered assault rifles.
Two of the guns purchased illegally with the government's knowledge were found at the site where Terry was killed near Nogales in 2010.
END
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
AZMEX POLICY 12-4-17
AZMEX POLICY 12 APR 2017
Sessions outlines immigration enforcement priorities during visit to Nogales
By Kendal Blust
Nogales International 21 hrs ago (2)
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/sessions-outlines-immigration-enforcement-priorities-during-visit-to-nogales/article_f54228aa-1f06-11e7-92dd-ef9b11c2950f.html
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced new criminal immigration enforcement guidelines at the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales on Tuesday, April 11.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced new mandates for federal prosecutors as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration enforcement and border security during a visit to Nogales Tuesday morning.
Speaking at the Mariposa Port of Entry after a brief tour of the border, Sessions outlined plans to amp up prosecutions and detentions for immigrants apprehended at the border.
The new guidelines, he said, reflect the administration's hardened stance against illegal immigration, drug smuggling and transnational gangs and cartels, as well as increased support for U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, who he described as the frontline against "criminal organizations that turn cities and suburbs into war zones, that rape and kill innocent civilians and who profit by smuggling poison and other human beings across our borders."
"It is here, on this sliver of land, on this border, where . . . we first take our stand," he continued, reading from a prepared statement.
Sessions said the new mandate requires federal prosecutors to focus on prosecuting those transporting and harboring undocumented immigrants; immigrants who unlawfully return to the United States after being deported, especially those with "certain aggravating circumstances," such as gang affiliations; and those in the country illegally who have committed document fraud or identity theft.
He said he will also require all 94 U.S. Attorney's Offices around the country to prioritize prosecution for assault on a federal law enforcement officer, and he also mandated that each office appoint a Border Security Coordinator by next Tuesday, April 18, to coordinate immigration enforcement for that district.
"For those that continue to seek improper and illegal entry into this country, be forewarned: This is a new era. This is the Trump era," he said. "The lawlessness, the abdication of the duty to enforce our immigration laws and the catch and release practices of old are over."
In addition to the new guidelines for federal prosecutors, Sessions also reiterated his intention to have "all adults who are apprehended at the border" detained, and to place immigration judges in detention centers.
In addition to 25 judges already assigned to border detention centers, Sessions said 50 more will be added to the bench this year and 75 the following year under a "streamlined hiring plan."
Calling President Donald Trump's executive order on border security the "guidepost," Sessions said the new administration will prosecute immigration and drug smuggling offenses to "the full extent of the law."
Following the more than 10-minute news conference, Sessions fielded questions from reporters.
He did not directly respond to questions about the administration's stance on family separation or funding for the wall. He did, however, defend the wall as a deterrent to illegal re-entry, despite touting declining apprehensions in recent months as proof that the new administration's policies are working.
"This is no accident. This is what happens when you have a president who understands the threat, who is not afraid to publicly identify the threat and stand up to it, and who makes clear to law enforcement that the leadership of their country finally has their back, and tells the whole world that the illegality is over" he said. "So together we will further drastically reduce the danger posed by criminal aliens, gang members and cartel henchmen."
Sessions' tour of the border was part of a day-long trip to Arizona that also included stops in Litchfield Park, Ariz. and Luke Air Force Base Tuesday afternoon, where Sessions spoke to law enforcement and military personnel.
END
Grijalva, wildlife group file lawsuit over Trump's proposed border wall
The Associated Press Apr 12, 2017 Updated 51 min ago
http://tucson.com/news/local/grijalva-wildlife-group-file-lawsuit-over-trump-s-proposed-border/article_b0340610-1fac-11e7-8cb2-5f552c1ca4e8.html
Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star
A conservation group and U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva have filed what they say is the first federal lawsuit against the proposed border wall.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Tucson by Grijalva, D-Arizona, and the Center for Biological Diversity.
Wildlife conservationists say the wall would be detrimental to rare animals such as jaguars and ocelots that are known to traverse the international line.
The lawsuit seeks to require the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to put together a report on construction of the wall and the environmental impact of expanded operations on the U.S.-Mexico border.
This includes environmental impact statements on the the wall itself, border road construction, off-road vehicle patrols, installation of high-intensity lighting, construction of base camps and checkpoints and other activities, according to a news release announcing the lawsuit.
President Donald Trump has promised to build the wall and make Mexico pay for it, though Mexico has refused.
"American environmental laws are some of the oldest and strongest in the world and they should apply to the borderlands just as they do everywhere else," said Grijalva, who expansive district includes about 300 miles of the border. "Trump's wall — and his fanatical approach to our southern border — will do little more than perpetuate human suffering while irrevocably damaging our public lands and the wildlife that depend on them."
The lawsuit names as defendants Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly; the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Kevin K. McAleenan, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection; and the CBP.
END
Sessions outlines immigration enforcement priorities during visit to Nogales
By Kendal Blust
Nogales International 21 hrs ago (2)
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/sessions-outlines-immigration-enforcement-priorities-during-visit-to-nogales/article_f54228aa-1f06-11e7-92dd-ef9b11c2950f.html
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced new criminal immigration enforcement guidelines at the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales on Tuesday, April 11.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced new mandates for federal prosecutors as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration enforcement and border security during a visit to Nogales Tuesday morning.
Speaking at the Mariposa Port of Entry after a brief tour of the border, Sessions outlined plans to amp up prosecutions and detentions for immigrants apprehended at the border.
The new guidelines, he said, reflect the administration's hardened stance against illegal immigration, drug smuggling and transnational gangs and cartels, as well as increased support for U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, who he described as the frontline against "criminal organizations that turn cities and suburbs into war zones, that rape and kill innocent civilians and who profit by smuggling poison and other human beings across our borders."
"It is here, on this sliver of land, on this border, where . . . we first take our stand," he continued, reading from a prepared statement.
Sessions said the new mandate requires federal prosecutors to focus on prosecuting those transporting and harboring undocumented immigrants; immigrants who unlawfully return to the United States after being deported, especially those with "certain aggravating circumstances," such as gang affiliations; and those in the country illegally who have committed document fraud or identity theft.
He said he will also require all 94 U.S. Attorney's Offices around the country to prioritize prosecution for assault on a federal law enforcement officer, and he also mandated that each office appoint a Border Security Coordinator by next Tuesday, April 18, to coordinate immigration enforcement for that district.
"For those that continue to seek improper and illegal entry into this country, be forewarned: This is a new era. This is the Trump era," he said. "The lawlessness, the abdication of the duty to enforce our immigration laws and the catch and release practices of old are over."
In addition to the new guidelines for federal prosecutors, Sessions also reiterated his intention to have "all adults who are apprehended at the border" detained, and to place immigration judges in detention centers.
In addition to 25 judges already assigned to border detention centers, Sessions said 50 more will be added to the bench this year and 75 the following year under a "streamlined hiring plan."
Calling President Donald Trump's executive order on border security the "guidepost," Sessions said the new administration will prosecute immigration and drug smuggling offenses to "the full extent of the law."
Following the more than 10-minute news conference, Sessions fielded questions from reporters.
He did not directly respond to questions about the administration's stance on family separation or funding for the wall. He did, however, defend the wall as a deterrent to illegal re-entry, despite touting declining apprehensions in recent months as proof that the new administration's policies are working.
"This is no accident. This is what happens when you have a president who understands the threat, who is not afraid to publicly identify the threat and stand up to it, and who makes clear to law enforcement that the leadership of their country finally has their back, and tells the whole world that the illegality is over" he said. "So together we will further drastically reduce the danger posed by criminal aliens, gang members and cartel henchmen."
Sessions' tour of the border was part of a day-long trip to Arizona that also included stops in Litchfield Park, Ariz. and Luke Air Force Base Tuesday afternoon, where Sessions spoke to law enforcement and military personnel.
END
Grijalva, wildlife group file lawsuit over Trump's proposed border wall
The Associated Press Apr 12, 2017 Updated 51 min ago
http://tucson.com/news/local/grijalva-wildlife-group-file-lawsuit-over-trump-s-proposed-border/article_b0340610-1fac-11e7-8cb2-5f552c1ca4e8.html
Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star
A conservation group and U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva have filed what they say is the first federal lawsuit against the proposed border wall.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Tucson by Grijalva, D-Arizona, and the Center for Biological Diversity.
Wildlife conservationists say the wall would be detrimental to rare animals such as jaguars and ocelots that are known to traverse the international line.
The lawsuit seeks to require the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to put together a report on construction of the wall and the environmental impact of expanded operations on the U.S.-Mexico border.
This includes environmental impact statements on the the wall itself, border road construction, off-road vehicle patrols, installation of high-intensity lighting, construction of base camps and checkpoints and other activities, according to a news release announcing the lawsuit.
President Donald Trump has promised to build the wall and make Mexico pay for it, though Mexico has refused.
"American environmental laws are some of the oldest and strongest in the world and they should apply to the borderlands just as they do everywhere else," said Grijalva, who expansive district includes about 300 miles of the border. "Trump's wall — and his fanatical approach to our southern border — will do little more than perpetuate human suffering while irrevocably damaging our public lands and the wildlife that depend on them."
The lawsuit names as defendants Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly; the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Kevin K. McAleenan, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection; and the CBP.
END
Monday, April 10, 2017
AZMEX SPECIAL 10-4-17
AZMEX SPECIAL 10 APR 2017
How Safe Is US Border; Real New Mexicans Speak Out
http://www.protectamericansnow.org/how-safe-is-us-border-real-new-mexicans-speak-out/
We could write endless volumes regarding the current US Border situation.
The drugs.
The killings.
The constant state of fear.
But no words could ever provide a full understanding of the situation than the words of the New Mexico people that live through it every single day.
Real New Mexicans. Real Americans.
Please take six minutes and watch this video. It will give you more insight than our words could ever do!
After you watch, we'd love to hear your thoughts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAQ8r-kaih4
Thanks to the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association for this video. http://nmagriculture.org/
Question: How has illegal immigration affected your life, your business or your family?
Please join us today and help us fight for America.
http://www.protectamericansnow.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProtectAmericansNow/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/protectamericansnow/
Twitter https://twitter.com/PAN4NM
end
How Safe Is US Border; Real New Mexicans Speak Out
http://www.protectamericansnow.org/how-safe-is-us-border-real-new-mexicans-speak-out/
We could write endless volumes regarding the current US Border situation.
The drugs.
The killings.
The constant state of fear.
But no words could ever provide a full understanding of the situation than the words of the New Mexico people that live through it every single day.
Real New Mexicans. Real Americans.
Please take six minutes and watch this video. It will give you more insight than our words could ever do!
After you watch, we'd love to hear your thoughts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAQ8r-kaih4
Thanks to the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association for this video. http://nmagriculture.org/
Question: How has illegal immigration affected your life, your business or your family?
Please join us today and help us fight for America.
http://www.protectamericansnow.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProtectAmericansNow/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/protectamericansnow/
Twitter https://twitter.com/PAN4NM
end
Sunday, April 9, 2017
AZMEX UPDATE 9-4-17
AZMEX UPDATE 9 APR 2017
Note: of most interest to those heading south for the Holy Week.
PF starts OperationEaster 2017
Details Posted on Saturday April 08, 2017,
Written by Marco A. Flores
Http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=88270
Nogales
This Saturday, the "Semana Santa 2017" operation will be launched, which will be headed by the Federal Police Caminos Division, in the northern region of the state, for which an official exit flag is expected in Magdalena de Kino.
This was reported by Reynaldo Martin Millán Maldonado, head of the Nogales station, said that the plan began this Friday at 23:59 hours and ends on April 23 at 00:00 hours.
"With the purpose of the holiday period of Easter, the Ministry of Government through the Commissioner of Public Security and the Federal Police, through the regional security division, plan for Easter 2017, in which the primary purpose is reduction of crime and accidents in the 372 kilometers of the federal highway, "he said.
The police chief added that the operations will be using "Radar" to prevent road accidents, detecting vehicles that exceed speed limits and which will be applied the corresponding sanctions, also with the operation "Safe Traveler", where elements will travel in buses, ticket sales and promotion platforms, verifying the presence of local security and performing random checks.
"We have a state of strength of 80 elements, with vacation and off duty days cancelled for the operational officers, in the center will send four elements per shift, to cover with that service in specific," he added.
From today until April 23, the Federal Police Caminos Division will implement the operation.
end
REGISTER AVALANCHE OF VISITORS TO MEXICO
DURING THE END OF THE WEEK VEHICULAR TRAFFIC WAS CAOTIC IN NOGALES, ARIZONA
09 / Apr / 2017
Omar Chiquete
Http://www.nuevodia.com.mx/Nota.aspx?p=30400
New Day / Nogales, Arizona
Long lines of vehicles were formed last Friday to leave the United States, especially at the Dennis DeConcini, POE in the Downtown.
Officials at the Nogales, Arizona, Police Department turned off the traffic lights to divert traffic by blocking downtown intersections along the long line to cross into Mexico.
This occurred during the evening, when work on the entry lanes to Mexico slows down the vehicular traffic; The large number of vehicles that traveled to the South, being the start of the weekend, made things difficult.
City Police Officers took control of the intersections to send the vehicles to the North and to be made a single row to avoid blockades at intersections.
Mariposa also received long lines for late-night entry to Mexico, but since there are no intersections on Mariposa Road, there was no need for police officers, but the line of cars reached the intersection with Target Range Road.
End
Note: On this side of the border, as usual, putting rodents, reptiles, etc. ahead of your families.
Thx
Border fencing affecting local wildlife in Southern New Mexico
By: Julio-Cesar Chavez
Posted: Apr 08, 2017 05:30 PM MDT
Updated: Apr 08, 2017 05:30 PM MDT
http://www.kvia.com/news/border/border-fencing-affecting-local-wildlife-in-southern-new-mexico/443197242
Border Fence Ecology
SUNLAND PARK, New Mexico - The Southwest Environmental Center set up a trip Saturday with several dozen people to take a look at the border barriers , and their effect on wildlife in the borderplex.
"This is the pedestrian fencing kind of design, and this is the worst kind for wildlife," said Kevin Bixby, Executive Director of the Southwest Environmental Center.
About 700 miles of the 2000 mile border have some kind of barrier, which the Southwest Environmental Center says is hurting wildlife, not letting them travel freely in search of food, water, and mates
"Some animals could squeeze through there, rodents rabbits, lizards, snakes...I've seen existing pedestrian fencing along the border where these gaps do not exist," Bixby said.
A new type of fencing at Sunland Park and Anapra has gaps that allow smaller animals to get through, but it may not be enough for larger animals in other parts of the border.
"Mexican wolves are extremely endangered. There are only about 113 in the wild in the US side, 35 or so in Mexico...They need to be able to maintain that genetic connection by being able to interbreed with each other," Bixby explained.
The issue isn't only with population that are at risk today, it could lead to problems with healthy animals in the future.
"When we put up a barrier like this it fragments populations, and it makes those smaller populations more vulnerable to extinction," said Bixby.
A risk Bixby says could be increased, if gapped fencing is replaced with solid concrete.
END
Note: of most interest to those heading south for the Holy Week.
PF starts OperationEaster 2017
Details Posted on Saturday April 08, 2017,
Written by Marco A. Flores
Http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=88270
Nogales
This Saturday, the "Semana Santa 2017" operation will be launched, which will be headed by the Federal Police Caminos Division, in the northern region of the state, for which an official exit flag is expected in Magdalena de Kino.
This was reported by Reynaldo Martin Millán Maldonado, head of the Nogales station, said that the plan began this Friday at 23:59 hours and ends on April 23 at 00:00 hours.
"With the purpose of the holiday period of Easter, the Ministry of Government through the Commissioner of Public Security and the Federal Police, through the regional security division, plan for Easter 2017, in which the primary purpose is reduction of crime and accidents in the 372 kilometers of the federal highway, "he said.
The police chief added that the operations will be using "Radar" to prevent road accidents, detecting vehicles that exceed speed limits and which will be applied the corresponding sanctions, also with the operation "Safe Traveler", where elements will travel in buses, ticket sales and promotion platforms, verifying the presence of local security and performing random checks.
"We have a state of strength of 80 elements, with vacation and off duty days cancelled for the operational officers, in the center will send four elements per shift, to cover with that service in specific," he added.
From today until April 23, the Federal Police Caminos Division will implement the operation.
end
REGISTER AVALANCHE OF VISITORS TO MEXICO
DURING THE END OF THE WEEK VEHICULAR TRAFFIC WAS CAOTIC IN NOGALES, ARIZONA
09 / Apr / 2017
Omar Chiquete
Http://www.nuevodia.com.mx/Nota.aspx?p=30400
New Day / Nogales, Arizona
Long lines of vehicles were formed last Friday to leave the United States, especially at the Dennis DeConcini, POE in the Downtown.
Officials at the Nogales, Arizona, Police Department turned off the traffic lights to divert traffic by blocking downtown intersections along the long line to cross into Mexico.
This occurred during the evening, when work on the entry lanes to Mexico slows down the vehicular traffic; The large number of vehicles that traveled to the South, being the start of the weekend, made things difficult.
City Police Officers took control of the intersections to send the vehicles to the North and to be made a single row to avoid blockades at intersections.
Mariposa also received long lines for late-night entry to Mexico, but since there are no intersections on Mariposa Road, there was no need for police officers, but the line of cars reached the intersection with Target Range Road.
End
Note: On this side of the border, as usual, putting rodents, reptiles, etc. ahead of your families.
Thx
Border fencing affecting local wildlife in Southern New Mexico
By: Julio-Cesar Chavez
Posted: Apr 08, 2017 05:30 PM MDT
Updated: Apr 08, 2017 05:30 PM MDT
http://www.kvia.com/news/border/border-fencing-affecting-local-wildlife-in-southern-new-mexico/443197242
Border Fence Ecology
SUNLAND PARK, New Mexico - The Southwest Environmental Center set up a trip Saturday with several dozen people to take a look at the border barriers , and their effect on wildlife in the borderplex.
"This is the pedestrian fencing kind of design, and this is the worst kind for wildlife," said Kevin Bixby, Executive Director of the Southwest Environmental Center.
About 700 miles of the 2000 mile border have some kind of barrier, which the Southwest Environmental Center says is hurting wildlife, not letting them travel freely in search of food, water, and mates
"Some animals could squeeze through there, rodents rabbits, lizards, snakes...I've seen existing pedestrian fencing along the border where these gaps do not exist," Bixby said.
A new type of fencing at Sunland Park and Anapra has gaps that allow smaller animals to get through, but it may not be enough for larger animals in other parts of the border.
"Mexican wolves are extremely endangered. There are only about 113 in the wild in the US side, 35 or so in Mexico...They need to be able to maintain that genetic connection by being able to interbreed with each other," Bixby explained.
The issue isn't only with population that are at risk today, it could lead to problems with healthy animals in the future.
"When we put up a barrier like this it fragments populations, and it makes those smaller populations more vulnerable to extinction," said Bixby.
A risk Bixby says could be increased, if gapped fencing is replaced with solid concrete.
END
Thursday, April 6, 2017
AZMEX I3 6-4-17
AZMEX I3 6 APR 2017
Note: The Casa Grande area is a well used hub for drug & human trafficking.
Access to I-8, I-10, I-17, and numerous other routes.
thx
The anti-sanctuary city: Arizona county bucks national trend
By William Lajeunesse
Published April 05, 2017
FoxNews.com
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/04/05/anti-sanctuary-city-arizona-county-bucks-national-trend.html
Pinal County, Arizona gives no sanctuary from federal law
Casa Grande, Ariz. – While an increasing number of cities declare themselves safe zones for illegal immigrants, a sheriff in Arizona is bucking the trend by openly working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol.
"I'm not for sanctuary cities," said Pinal County Sheriff Paul Lamb. "That's pretty much it in a nutshell."
Pinal County, south of Phoenix, is the size of Connecticut. Its 450,000 residents are an ethnic mix – black, white, Hispanic and Native Americans.
Lamb took office in January and instituted a cooperative program so his jail deputies are cross trained as ICE agents, allowing them to question and immediately determine an inmate's immigration status. In practice, it allows for a seamless transition of criminal aliens from the Pima County courthouse or jail to ICE custody for deportation.
"Ultimately their goal is the same as ours – public safety," said David Marin, an ICE director in Los Angeles. "Those sheriffs and law enforcement agencies realize that by turning over these criminal aliens to us they're not going to be able to go out and commit additional crimes."
Currently Pinal County has four jail deputies trained in the ICE 287g program, which allows local police to enforce immigration laws. The Trump administration hopes to expand the program to as many cities as possible.
"My job is to keep the people of Pinal County safe," said Lamb. "The 287g program allows me to make sure I'm not putting criminals back in the community."
As trained ICE agents, the deputies are able to tap into Department of Homeland Security computers and determine an inmates' legal status. And unlike sanctuary jurisdictions, the county honors ICE warrants and detainers and will give ICE a call when an inmate is preparing to leave.
"This county cares about illegal immigration and it's my job to make sure that we work with our federal partners to uphold the law," Lamb said.
That includes the Border Patrol, which works closely with the county's anti-smuggling unit.
"They back us up and we help them," said Deputy Eddie Joseph.
Behind the wheel of an unmarked, black Dodge pickup, Joseph patrols Interstate 8 and 10, both of which cross east-west across Pinal County. He watches a battered blue SUV suspiciously go up and down a desert road twice in 30 minutes. The behavior mirrors that of smugglers who are looking to pick up illegals hiding in the bushes along the road.
It's a seven-day walk from the U.S. Mexican border about 80 miles away. Yet, piles of discarded clothes, water bottles and burlap sacks used to carry marijuana litter the desert in popular spots near the highways.
"We see a lot of drug and human smuggling" Joseph said. "You can see here the foot tracks in the sand. They're probably a few days old."
The Trump Administration sees local law enforcement as a front line in its battle against illegal immigration, at the border and in the interior. They do not expect to turn local cops into immigration agents. But once an immigrant is booked into jail, for any offense, they become fair game.
The administration argues it is the federal government's prerogative – not a local mayor or city council – to decide who gets deported and who does not.
"It's a slippery slope, when you get into that," Lamb argued. "You can't start determining this person meets a criteria and this one doesn't. The bottom line is, it's illegal (to be here). If someone is illegal, it's against the law and my job to uphold the law."
Marin wished more local law enforcement shared his attitude.
"It's troubling for us because here's a criminal alien, somebody that we can use our unique authorities to not only remove them from the community," he said, "but ultimately remove them from the country and again there's law enforcement agencies that are just letting them go."
END
Note: The Casa Grande area is a well used hub for drug & human trafficking.
Access to I-8, I-10, I-17, and numerous other routes.
thx
The anti-sanctuary city: Arizona county bucks national trend
By William Lajeunesse
Published April 05, 2017
FoxNews.com
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/04/05/anti-sanctuary-city-arizona-county-bucks-national-trend.html
Pinal County, Arizona gives no sanctuary from federal law
Casa Grande, Ariz. – While an increasing number of cities declare themselves safe zones for illegal immigrants, a sheriff in Arizona is bucking the trend by openly working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol.
"I'm not for sanctuary cities," said Pinal County Sheriff Paul Lamb. "That's pretty much it in a nutshell."
Pinal County, south of Phoenix, is the size of Connecticut. Its 450,000 residents are an ethnic mix – black, white, Hispanic and Native Americans.
Lamb took office in January and instituted a cooperative program so his jail deputies are cross trained as ICE agents, allowing them to question and immediately determine an inmate's immigration status. In practice, it allows for a seamless transition of criminal aliens from the Pima County courthouse or jail to ICE custody for deportation.
"Ultimately their goal is the same as ours – public safety," said David Marin, an ICE director in Los Angeles. "Those sheriffs and law enforcement agencies realize that by turning over these criminal aliens to us they're not going to be able to go out and commit additional crimes."
Currently Pinal County has four jail deputies trained in the ICE 287g program, which allows local police to enforce immigration laws. The Trump administration hopes to expand the program to as many cities as possible.
"My job is to keep the people of Pinal County safe," said Lamb. "The 287g program allows me to make sure I'm not putting criminals back in the community."
As trained ICE agents, the deputies are able to tap into Department of Homeland Security computers and determine an inmates' legal status. And unlike sanctuary jurisdictions, the county honors ICE warrants and detainers and will give ICE a call when an inmate is preparing to leave.
"This county cares about illegal immigration and it's my job to make sure that we work with our federal partners to uphold the law," Lamb said.
That includes the Border Patrol, which works closely with the county's anti-smuggling unit.
"They back us up and we help them," said Deputy Eddie Joseph.
Behind the wheel of an unmarked, black Dodge pickup, Joseph patrols Interstate 8 and 10, both of which cross east-west across Pinal County. He watches a battered blue SUV suspiciously go up and down a desert road twice in 30 minutes. The behavior mirrors that of smugglers who are looking to pick up illegals hiding in the bushes along the road.
It's a seven-day walk from the U.S. Mexican border about 80 miles away. Yet, piles of discarded clothes, water bottles and burlap sacks used to carry marijuana litter the desert in popular spots near the highways.
"We see a lot of drug and human smuggling" Joseph said. "You can see here the foot tracks in the sand. They're probably a few days old."
The Trump Administration sees local law enforcement as a front line in its battle against illegal immigration, at the border and in the interior. They do not expect to turn local cops into immigration agents. But once an immigrant is booked into jail, for any offense, they become fair game.
The administration argues it is the federal government's prerogative – not a local mayor or city council – to decide who gets deported and who does not.
"It's a slippery slope, when you get into that," Lamb argued. "You can't start determining this person meets a criteria and this one doesn't. The bottom line is, it's illegal (to be here). If someone is illegal, it's against the law and my job to uphold the law."
Marin wished more local law enforcement shared his attitude.
"It's troubling for us because here's a criminal alien, somebody that we can use our unique authorities to not only remove them from the community," he said, "but ultimately remove them from the country and again there's law enforcement agencies that are just letting them go."
END
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
AZMEX POLICY 4-4-17
AZMEX POLICY 4 APR 2017
Videgaray will meet again with Rex Tillerson, now in Washington
OEM Online
Tuesday, April 4, 2017 in Sociedad México
Https://www.elsoldemexico.com.mx/mexico/sociedad-mex/632753-videgaray-se-reunira-de-nuevo-con-rex-tillerson-ahora-en-washington
The Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Luis Videgaray Caso, will make a working visit to the city of Washington DC, from April 4 to 6, with the objective of releasing a broad bilateral and regional agenda.
As part of his activities, Chancellor Videgaray will meet with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly. He will also hold working meetings with Federal Senators from both parties.
Find out: Mexico will firmly negotiate its own interests: EPN to Tillerson and Kelly
Likewise, the Chancellor will attend the Permanent Council Meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS), to present the program of Mexico to the XLVII General Assembly, to be held in our country next June.
He will meet with the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro and will hold a working breakfast with Ambassadors from Caribbean countries accredited to the OAS, with whom he will exchange views on common challenges at the regional level.
The visit represents an opportunity to reiterate the importance of the US-Mexico relationship with key actors in that country, as well as to follow up on the main issues on the bilateral and regional agenda.
END
Not to forget:
"the decisions of who enters Mexico, are taken by Mexico and only Mexico"
Luis Videgaray: Mexico decides who enters our country
Friday March 10, 2017,
El Diario de Sonora
Http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=87134
end
Videgaray will meet again with Rex Tillerson, now in Washington
OEM Online
Tuesday, April 4, 2017 in Sociedad México
Https://www.elsoldemexico.com.mx/mexico/sociedad-mex/632753-videgaray-se-reunira-de-nuevo-con-rex-tillerson-ahora-en-washington
The Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Luis Videgaray Caso, will make a working visit to the city of Washington DC, from April 4 to 6, with the objective of releasing a broad bilateral and regional agenda.
As part of his activities, Chancellor Videgaray will meet with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly. He will also hold working meetings with Federal Senators from both parties.
Find out: Mexico will firmly negotiate its own interests: EPN to Tillerson and Kelly
Likewise, the Chancellor will attend the Permanent Council Meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS), to present the program of Mexico to the XLVII General Assembly, to be held in our country next June.
He will meet with the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro and will hold a working breakfast with Ambassadors from Caribbean countries accredited to the OAS, with whom he will exchange views on common challenges at the regional level.
The visit represents an opportunity to reiterate the importance of the US-Mexico relationship with key actors in that country, as well as to follow up on the main issues on the bilateral and regional agenda.
END
Not to forget:
"the decisions of who enters Mexico, are taken by Mexico and only Mexico"
Luis Videgaray: Mexico decides who enters our country
Friday March 10, 2017,
El Diario de Sonora
Http://www.eldiariodesonora.com.mx/notas.php?nota=87134
end
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
AZMEX SPECIAL 4-4-17
AZMEX SPECIAL 4 APR 2017
'They're going to kill me,' home invader tells judge
By Paulina Pineda
Nogales International 9 hrs ago (0)
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/they-re-going-to-kill-me-home-invader-tells-judge/article_2b8c73c2-18d4-11e7-8fc1-9b733797618a.html
Miguel Huerta Zuniga takes the stand during his sentencing hearing at Santa Cruz County Superior Court on Friday, March 31.
Huerta was sentenced to 10 years in state prison for first-degree burglary, a Class 2 felony, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in connection with a home invasion in January 2016.
While acknowledging that he committed a crime when he and several others broke into a home in Nogales last January to steal marijuana, Miguel Huerta Zuniga pleaded with Judge Thomas Fink to spare his life and not sentence him to prison after expressing fear that his co-defendants had put a "price on his head."
"I'm not even going to last a week," Huerta said during last Friday's sentencing hearing at Santa Cruz County Superior Court. "As soon as I hit the yard they're going to kill me."
Speaking during the hearing, defense lawyer Mark Willimann argued that the contents of a police report provided to the co-defendants singled out Huerta as a snitch. The contents were not discussed during the sentencing.
"It is those reports that have found themselves in prison, those reports that labeled this man a snitch, it is those reports that have put a price on his head," he said. "I ask the court, (considering) everything that we know, is a death sentence appropriate for Mr. Zuniga?"
Willimann asked Fink to suspend the prison sentence and instead sentence Huerta to a lengthy probation term. He argued that the court had the option to sentence Huerta to five years in prison, suspend 3.5 years, and give him credit for time served, which would still meet the terms of the plea agreement.
Huerta, 25, had previously pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree burglary, a Class 2 felony, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a Class 6 designated felony. As part of the plea agreement, Huerta could have faced between three to 12.5 years for the first-degree burglary offense.
Fink, however, argued that probation wasn't available under the plea, and that what Willimann was asking for was not a viable option under the plea deal as he understood it.
Deputy County Attorney Vanessa Cartwright added that if the judge were to consider anything other than a prison sentence, the state would move to withdraw from the plea deal.
Instead, Huerta was sentenced to 10 years in state prison and given credit for 418 days already served.
Peer pressure
After taking the witness stand during last Friday's sentencing, Huerta testified that on the morning of Jan. 28, 2016, he went to a home on West Wise Street in Nogales and smoked marijuana with one of the eventual victims of the home invasion. The man, Huerta said, gave him several samples of "high-quality marijuana," which he took back with him to a friend's house.
Once at the friend's house, Huerta said, the group smoked the samples he'd brought back. He said it was then that co-defendants Joe Leneer and Armando Ruiz Valencia devised a plan to break into the Wise Street home and steal the drugs.
Asked if he knew that morning that he'd be involved in a burglary later that day, Huerta said he had "no idea." He added that he was afraid to say no to participating in the break-in because Leneer and Ruiz were armed. The last time he objected to one of their plans, he said, his head was put in a bag and he was pistol-whipped.
Huerta said he and three others stormed the house. The group, he added, was wearing masks, police vests and were armed with rifles.
After hearing gunshots fired in the home, Huerta said he ran out of the house to one of the nearby getaway vehicles and drove off.
Willimann, who described Huerta as "soft spoken," "extremely polite" and "very intelligent," said Huerta was peer-pressured into participating in the home invasion.
"(Q)uite frankly, if Mr. Zuniga had his way, they would not be victims at his hand," Willimann said, adding: "But it really wasn't his hands, it was the hands of his co-conspirators. It was the hands of those that needed him to point out the way and go along with them because if he didn't, he would be suffering other consequences."
However, Cartwright argued that there was no evidence to support that Huerta was under duress or coercion at the time of the incident. She added that witnesses said he seemed relaxed and that he didn't seem "at odds" with his co-defendants.
She argued that after Huerta returned to his friend's house with the marijuana samples, the group held an impromptu meeting where they planned to steal the marijuana that they would then sell themselves.
"The only reason that this home invasion even occurred at the house that it did is because of him," she said. "His choice is what caused these people in this home to be victims of a very serious crime."
The assailants, she said, stormed the house and ordered several victims inside to lay on the floor.
One of the victims, who was holding a 2-month-old infant, was hit on the head with the muzzle of a long rifle after he refused to put the baby down.
While searching the home for drugs, which they didn't find, the suspects fired their weapons after they unexpectedly encountered someone in the back of the home.
Cartwright said some of the suspects returned to the home the next day looking for any evidence and guns left behind.
She added that police never recovered the guns or vests used in the attack.
Aggravated term
Cartwright asked the judge to give Huerta the maximum sentence of 12.5 years for the burglary count and two years for the assault count.
Instead, Fink sentenced him to the aggravated sentence of 10 years in prison for the burglary and 1.5 years for the assault, to be served concurrently. Because the crimes were designated as non-dangerous offenses, Huerta will be eligible for release after serving 85 percent of his sentence.
The judge also recommended that Huerta be placed in protective custody while in prison, but said he could not order the Arizona Department of Corrections to do so.
Leneer and Ruiz were previously sentenced in November for their involvement in the home invasion. Leneer was sentenced to 2.5 years in state prison for attempted weapons conduct, a Class 5 felony, while Ruiz was sentenced to six years in prison for a Class 4 felony weapons misconduct offense and five years probation for conspiracy to commit first-degree burglary.
Charges are still pending against the other four co-defendants. They include Gabriel Maldonado, Juan Ricardo Chaparro, Isaac Chaparro and Priscilla Coronado, who remains a fugitive after being released on her own recognizance last May after the court was unable to appoint her a lawyer.
END
'They're going to kill me,' home invader tells judge
By Paulina Pineda
Nogales International 9 hrs ago (0)
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/they-re-going-to-kill-me-home-invader-tells-judge/article_2b8c73c2-18d4-11e7-8fc1-9b733797618a.html
Miguel Huerta Zuniga takes the stand during his sentencing hearing at Santa Cruz County Superior Court on Friday, March 31.
Huerta was sentenced to 10 years in state prison for first-degree burglary, a Class 2 felony, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in connection with a home invasion in January 2016.
While acknowledging that he committed a crime when he and several others broke into a home in Nogales last January to steal marijuana, Miguel Huerta Zuniga pleaded with Judge Thomas Fink to spare his life and not sentence him to prison after expressing fear that his co-defendants had put a "price on his head."
"I'm not even going to last a week," Huerta said during last Friday's sentencing hearing at Santa Cruz County Superior Court. "As soon as I hit the yard they're going to kill me."
Speaking during the hearing, defense lawyer Mark Willimann argued that the contents of a police report provided to the co-defendants singled out Huerta as a snitch. The contents were not discussed during the sentencing.
"It is those reports that have found themselves in prison, those reports that labeled this man a snitch, it is those reports that have put a price on his head," he said. "I ask the court, (considering) everything that we know, is a death sentence appropriate for Mr. Zuniga?"
Willimann asked Fink to suspend the prison sentence and instead sentence Huerta to a lengthy probation term. He argued that the court had the option to sentence Huerta to five years in prison, suspend 3.5 years, and give him credit for time served, which would still meet the terms of the plea agreement.
Huerta, 25, had previously pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree burglary, a Class 2 felony, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a Class 6 designated felony. As part of the plea agreement, Huerta could have faced between three to 12.5 years for the first-degree burglary offense.
Fink, however, argued that probation wasn't available under the plea, and that what Willimann was asking for was not a viable option under the plea deal as he understood it.
Deputy County Attorney Vanessa Cartwright added that if the judge were to consider anything other than a prison sentence, the state would move to withdraw from the plea deal.
Instead, Huerta was sentenced to 10 years in state prison and given credit for 418 days already served.
Peer pressure
After taking the witness stand during last Friday's sentencing, Huerta testified that on the morning of Jan. 28, 2016, he went to a home on West Wise Street in Nogales and smoked marijuana with one of the eventual victims of the home invasion. The man, Huerta said, gave him several samples of "high-quality marijuana," which he took back with him to a friend's house.
Once at the friend's house, Huerta said, the group smoked the samples he'd brought back. He said it was then that co-defendants Joe Leneer and Armando Ruiz Valencia devised a plan to break into the Wise Street home and steal the drugs.
Asked if he knew that morning that he'd be involved in a burglary later that day, Huerta said he had "no idea." He added that he was afraid to say no to participating in the break-in because Leneer and Ruiz were armed. The last time he objected to one of their plans, he said, his head was put in a bag and he was pistol-whipped.
Huerta said he and three others stormed the house. The group, he added, was wearing masks, police vests and were armed with rifles.
After hearing gunshots fired in the home, Huerta said he ran out of the house to one of the nearby getaway vehicles and drove off.
Willimann, who described Huerta as "soft spoken," "extremely polite" and "very intelligent," said Huerta was peer-pressured into participating in the home invasion.
"(Q)uite frankly, if Mr. Zuniga had his way, they would not be victims at his hand," Willimann said, adding: "But it really wasn't his hands, it was the hands of his co-conspirators. It was the hands of those that needed him to point out the way and go along with them because if he didn't, he would be suffering other consequences."
However, Cartwright argued that there was no evidence to support that Huerta was under duress or coercion at the time of the incident. She added that witnesses said he seemed relaxed and that he didn't seem "at odds" with his co-defendants.
She argued that after Huerta returned to his friend's house with the marijuana samples, the group held an impromptu meeting where they planned to steal the marijuana that they would then sell themselves.
"The only reason that this home invasion even occurred at the house that it did is because of him," she said. "His choice is what caused these people in this home to be victims of a very serious crime."
The assailants, she said, stormed the house and ordered several victims inside to lay on the floor.
One of the victims, who was holding a 2-month-old infant, was hit on the head with the muzzle of a long rifle after he refused to put the baby down.
While searching the home for drugs, which they didn't find, the suspects fired their weapons after they unexpectedly encountered someone in the back of the home.
Cartwright said some of the suspects returned to the home the next day looking for any evidence and guns left behind.
She added that police never recovered the guns or vests used in the attack.
Aggravated term
Cartwright asked the judge to give Huerta the maximum sentence of 12.5 years for the burglary count and two years for the assault count.
Instead, Fink sentenced him to the aggravated sentence of 10 years in prison for the burglary and 1.5 years for the assault, to be served concurrently. Because the crimes were designated as non-dangerous offenses, Huerta will be eligible for release after serving 85 percent of his sentence.
The judge also recommended that Huerta be placed in protective custody while in prison, but said he could not order the Arizona Department of Corrections to do so.
Leneer and Ruiz were previously sentenced in November for their involvement in the home invasion. Leneer was sentenced to 2.5 years in state prison for attempted weapons conduct, a Class 5 felony, while Ruiz was sentenced to six years in prison for a Class 4 felony weapons misconduct offense and five years probation for conspiracy to commit first-degree burglary.
Charges are still pending against the other four co-defendants. They include Gabriel Maldonado, Juan Ricardo Chaparro, Isaac Chaparro and Priscilla Coronado, who remains a fugitive after being released on her own recognizance last May after the court was unable to appoint her a lawyer.
END
Thursday, March 30, 2017
AZMEX POLICY 30-3-17
AZMEX POLICY 30 MAR 2017
Note: Arizonacentric. Of course. BTW, the Phoenix vote was more about "de jure" than "de facto".
Thx
Rollout of Phoenix municipal ID cards delayed
BY GRISELDA ZETINO |
March 30, 2017 @ 5:05 am
https://ktar.com/story/1511391/rollout-phoenix-municipal-id-cards-delayed-phoenix/
Municipal ID cards were supposed to be made available to Phoenix residents by now, but there's been a delay.
Supporters of the ID cards say the rollout was delayed because there are concerns over whether or not the city will retain the personal information of card holders.
Viridiana Hernandez, executive director of the Center for Neighborhood Leadership, said she and other supporters are worried authorities could access the information and use it against card holders, especially those who are undocumented.
"Someone's name or someone's address – all of that information we feel will be very sensitive and could be used if there aren't any protections," Hernandez said.
She added that the concerns are even more pressing now that President Donald Trump is in office and could direct federal authorities to access the data. Similar concerns are brewing in California, where thousands of undocumented immigrants have applied for driver's licenses and, in doing so, have shared their personal information.
But David Urbinato, a spokesman for the Phoenix City Council, said the delay was not due to concerns over personal information being retained. He said the delay was "solely" to account for any possible changes to municipal ID cards or services made in the state Legislature.
"There have been several bills considered in the current legislative session that would impact how, or even if, municipalities can offer cards," he said, adding that the delay "ensured that any Phoenix city services card program would comply with any changes mandated in state legislation."
"The date change is solely driven by that," he said.
Now, the Phoenix municipal ID cards are projected to be made available in late spring or early summer.
END
Former Gov. Jan Brewer says politicians who support sanctuary cities should be jailed
BY KTAR.COM | March 30, 2017 @ 4:53 am
https://ktar.com/story/1510798/former-gov-jan-brewer-says-politicians-support-sanctuary-cities-jailed/
PHOENIX — Former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said politicians who support sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants, particularly those who commit crimes, should be jailed.
"What are they thinking? They ought to be in jail, really," Brewer told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" this week. "They're harboring and protecting criminals. It's unbelievable that they would get away with this."
Though there is no agreed upon definition of a sanctuary city, the general consensus defines them as a city that will, in some way, protect illegal immigrants.
In some cases, these cities tell police not to inquire about the immigration status of those they encounter, or they decline requests from immigration officials to keep defendants in custody while they await deportation.
Others say they do cooperate with such "detainer" requests as long as they're backed by court-issued warrants, but won't allow local officers to enforce federal immigration law.
Brewer said her biggest concern is with cities who allow illegal immigrants with criminal records to walk free.
"People want to feel safe. They're making our cities and our states dangerous (by) releasing these criminals, these murderers, rapists, child abusers back out into our streets," she said, later adding that not all illegal immigrants commit crimes.
She also said it is "absolutely wrong" that politicians would choose the safety of the community over their political agenda. "It makes absolutely no sense," she said. "I don't even think it makes sense to them other than that they want to poke people in the eyes."
Earlier this year, the Phoenix City Council voted against becoming a sanctuary city in a 7-2 vote.
END
Note: Arizonacentric. Of course. BTW, the Phoenix vote was more about "de jure" than "de facto".
Thx
Rollout of Phoenix municipal ID cards delayed
BY GRISELDA ZETINO |
March 30, 2017 @ 5:05 am
https://ktar.com/story/1511391/rollout-phoenix-municipal-id-cards-delayed-phoenix/
Municipal ID cards were supposed to be made available to Phoenix residents by now, but there's been a delay.
Supporters of the ID cards say the rollout was delayed because there are concerns over whether or not the city will retain the personal information of card holders.
Viridiana Hernandez, executive director of the Center for Neighborhood Leadership, said she and other supporters are worried authorities could access the information and use it against card holders, especially those who are undocumented.
"Someone's name or someone's address – all of that information we feel will be very sensitive and could be used if there aren't any protections," Hernandez said.
She added that the concerns are even more pressing now that President Donald Trump is in office and could direct federal authorities to access the data. Similar concerns are brewing in California, where thousands of undocumented immigrants have applied for driver's licenses and, in doing so, have shared their personal information.
But David Urbinato, a spokesman for the Phoenix City Council, said the delay was not due to concerns over personal information being retained. He said the delay was "solely" to account for any possible changes to municipal ID cards or services made in the state Legislature.
"There have been several bills considered in the current legislative session that would impact how, or even if, municipalities can offer cards," he said, adding that the delay "ensured that any Phoenix city services card program would comply with any changes mandated in state legislation."
"The date change is solely driven by that," he said.
Now, the Phoenix municipal ID cards are projected to be made available in late spring or early summer.
END
Former Gov. Jan Brewer says politicians who support sanctuary cities should be jailed
BY KTAR.COM | March 30, 2017 @ 4:53 am
https://ktar.com/story/1510798/former-gov-jan-brewer-says-politicians-support-sanctuary-cities-jailed/
PHOENIX — Former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said politicians who support sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants, particularly those who commit crimes, should be jailed.
"What are they thinking? They ought to be in jail, really," Brewer told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" this week. "They're harboring and protecting criminals. It's unbelievable that they would get away with this."
Though there is no agreed upon definition of a sanctuary city, the general consensus defines them as a city that will, in some way, protect illegal immigrants.
In some cases, these cities tell police not to inquire about the immigration status of those they encounter, or they decline requests from immigration officials to keep defendants in custody while they await deportation.
Others say they do cooperate with such "detainer" requests as long as they're backed by court-issued warrants, but won't allow local officers to enforce federal immigration law.
Brewer said her biggest concern is with cities who allow illegal immigrants with criminal records to walk free.
"People want to feel safe. They're making our cities and our states dangerous (by) releasing these criminals, these murderers, rapists, child abusers back out into our streets," she said, later adding that not all illegal immigrants commit crimes.
She also said it is "absolutely wrong" that politicians would choose the safety of the community over their political agenda. "It makes absolutely no sense," she said. "I don't even think it makes sense to them other than that they want to poke people in the eyes."
Earlier this year, the Phoenix City Council voted against becoming a sanctuary city in a 7-2 vote.
END
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
AZMEX UPDATE 28-3-17
AZMEX UPDATE 28 MAR 2017
SONORA
Military Police to strengthen security in Sonora
By: Jorge López | 3/28/2017 6:35
HERMOSILLO, Sonora (GH)
Http://www.elimparcial.com/EdicionEnLinea/Notas/Sonora/28032017/1195188-Policia-Militar-reforzara-seguridad-en-Sonora.html
During the next two months, a thousand soldiers of the Fifth Brigade of the Military Police will remain in the municipalities of Hermosillo, Cajeme, Huatabampo, as well as in the valleys of Yaqui and Mayo, to reinforce security in the state.
Norberto Cortés Rodríguez, commander of the Fourth Military Zone, explained that until the end of May, a thousand military police will remain in the state to maintain the peace and tranquility of Sonora.
"They come to join the efforts that are being made to continue maintaining the tranquility here in the State; Are effective that arrive in addition to those that already existed here in the Central and Southern part of the State of Sonora, "he said.
REGIONS WITH PROBLEMS
Adolfo García Morales, Secretary of Public Security, acknowledged that although Sonora is considered to be safe, there are regions where there are some problems, and this is where it will be strengthened by the military presence.
"There are regions such as the Sierra Alta, the Sierra Media, the southern part of the state, where more deployment is required and obviously the number of soldiers, and those thousand soldiers will make great support to continue maintaining the levels of security And improve them, especially, "he said.
There will also be a military presence on the Sonora border with the states of Sinaloa and Chihuahua, he said, and at the overnight center located at Estacion Don.
It will be a coordinated work with the different security corporations in the State, he added, and a strategy based on the operating group and restricting criminal mobility will be defined.
NO RED FOCUS
The Secretary of Public Security clarified that the presence of the Military Police was an agreement between the governor Claudia Pavlovich and the Secretary of National Defense, Salvador Cienfuegos to strengthen security in the State, worse not because it is in the red spotlight.
"Even if they see the statistics," he said, "the state of Sonora compared to the Northeast and the Northwest of the Republic, we have numbers that do not put us in a red spotlight on any of the high impact crimes that we have and that are product Of the analysis of the Executive Secretariat of the National Commission of Public Security ".
Call to avoid militarization of public security
It is necessary to specify the tasks that will be carried out in the State by the elements of the Military Police and to restrict the contact with the citizenship to avoid human rights violations, assured the specialists in public affairs.
Guillermo Noriega Esparza, a specialist in transparency issues, said that before the arrival of a thousand elements of the Army, he worried that it could give a impression of militarization of public security.
For Germán Palafox Moyers, director of the Citizen Observatory for Coexistence and Security, the presence of the Military Police in the State should be exclusively dedicated to specific areas that help fight organized crime.
end
Mexico governor says Chihuahua too weak to fight cartels
4 hours ago
From the section Latin America & Caribbean
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-39413080
Javier Corral, Governor of the state of Chihuahua, gestures during a news conference about the killing of journalist Miroslava Breach, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico March 27, 2017Image copyrightREUTERS
Mr Corral was speaking days after a local journalist was shot dead in her car
The governor of Mexico's northern state of Chihuahua, Javier Corral, has said his government does not have the means to tackle organised crime.
He said he had requested federal resources to help local police fight the drug cartels.
Mr Corral's comments come four days after the murder of a local journalist, Miroslava Breach, in Chihuahua City. Ms Breach had reported extensively on the links between organised crime and politicians in the state.
She was shot in her car on Thursday outside her house in Chihuahua City, becoming the third journalist killed in Mexico this month. One of her children, who was in the vehicle, was not hurt.
'For being a loud mouth'
Mr Corral said there had been "significant progress" in the investigation since Sunday.
Journalists and activist protest against the murder of the Mexican journalist Miroslava Breach, outside the Attorney General's Office (PGR) in Mexico City, Mexico, March 25, 2017Image copyrightREUTERS
Image caption
Several protests have been held across Mexico since the journalist's murder on Thursday
Police have released a surveillance camera image of one of the men suspected of shooting her. But no arrest warrants have been issued so far.
Mr Corral said that Chihuahua will not be able to combat the powerful criminal organisations operating in the state without federal help. "The Federal Government is notably absent in the fight against violence in Chihuahua, even though 75% of the murders that happen here are in the remit of the federal authorities," he told La Jornada newspaper. Ms Breach worked for La Jornada and a regional newspaper, Norte de Juarez.
The gunmen left a note at the crime scene that read: "For being a loud-mouth."
On Friday and Saturday, dozens of her colleagues and other demonstrators took part in protests calling for justice and demanding a thorough investigation.
The Committee to Protect Journalists says 38 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 1992.
end
SONORA
Military Police to strengthen security in Sonora
By: Jorge López | 3/28/2017 6:35
HERMOSILLO, Sonora (GH)
Http://www.elimparcial.com/EdicionEnLinea/Notas/Sonora/28032017/1195188-Policia-Militar-reforzara-seguridad-en-Sonora.html
During the next two months, a thousand soldiers of the Fifth Brigade of the Military Police will remain in the municipalities of Hermosillo, Cajeme, Huatabampo, as well as in the valleys of Yaqui and Mayo, to reinforce security in the state.
Norberto Cortés Rodríguez, commander of the Fourth Military Zone, explained that until the end of May, a thousand military police will remain in the state to maintain the peace and tranquility of Sonora.
"They come to join the efforts that are being made to continue maintaining the tranquility here in the State; Are effective that arrive in addition to those that already existed here in the Central and Southern part of the State of Sonora, "he said.
REGIONS WITH PROBLEMS
Adolfo García Morales, Secretary of Public Security, acknowledged that although Sonora is considered to be safe, there are regions where there are some problems, and this is where it will be strengthened by the military presence.
"There are regions such as the Sierra Alta, the Sierra Media, the southern part of the state, where more deployment is required and obviously the number of soldiers, and those thousand soldiers will make great support to continue maintaining the levels of security And improve them, especially, "he said.
There will also be a military presence on the Sonora border with the states of Sinaloa and Chihuahua, he said, and at the overnight center located at Estacion Don.
It will be a coordinated work with the different security corporations in the State, he added, and a strategy based on the operating group and restricting criminal mobility will be defined.
NO RED FOCUS
The Secretary of Public Security clarified that the presence of the Military Police was an agreement between the governor Claudia Pavlovich and the Secretary of National Defense, Salvador Cienfuegos to strengthen security in the State, worse not because it is in the red spotlight.
"Even if they see the statistics," he said, "the state of Sonora compared to the Northeast and the Northwest of the Republic, we have numbers that do not put us in a red spotlight on any of the high impact crimes that we have and that are product Of the analysis of the Executive Secretariat of the National Commission of Public Security ".
Call to avoid militarization of public security
It is necessary to specify the tasks that will be carried out in the State by the elements of the Military Police and to restrict the contact with the citizenship to avoid human rights violations, assured the specialists in public affairs.
Guillermo Noriega Esparza, a specialist in transparency issues, said that before the arrival of a thousand elements of the Army, he worried that it could give a impression of militarization of public security.
For Germán Palafox Moyers, director of the Citizen Observatory for Coexistence and Security, the presence of the Military Police in the State should be exclusively dedicated to specific areas that help fight organized crime.
end
Mexico governor says Chihuahua too weak to fight cartels
4 hours ago
From the section Latin America & Caribbean
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-39413080
Javier Corral, Governor of the state of Chihuahua, gestures during a news conference about the killing of journalist Miroslava Breach, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico March 27, 2017Image copyrightREUTERS
Mr Corral was speaking days after a local journalist was shot dead in her car
The governor of Mexico's northern state of Chihuahua, Javier Corral, has said his government does not have the means to tackle organised crime.
He said he had requested federal resources to help local police fight the drug cartels.
Mr Corral's comments come four days after the murder of a local journalist, Miroslava Breach, in Chihuahua City. Ms Breach had reported extensively on the links between organised crime and politicians in the state.
She was shot in her car on Thursday outside her house in Chihuahua City, becoming the third journalist killed in Mexico this month. One of her children, who was in the vehicle, was not hurt.
'For being a loud mouth'
Mr Corral said there had been "significant progress" in the investigation since Sunday.
Journalists and activist protest against the murder of the Mexican journalist Miroslava Breach, outside the Attorney General's Office (PGR) in Mexico City, Mexico, March 25, 2017Image copyrightREUTERS
Image caption
Several protests have been held across Mexico since the journalist's murder on Thursday
Police have released a surveillance camera image of one of the men suspected of shooting her. But no arrest warrants have been issued so far.
Mr Corral said that Chihuahua will not be able to combat the powerful criminal organisations operating in the state without federal help. "The Federal Government is notably absent in the fight against violence in Chihuahua, even though 75% of the murders that happen here are in the remit of the federal authorities," he told La Jornada newspaper. Ms Breach worked for La Jornada and a regional newspaper, Norte de Juarez.
The gunmen left a note at the crime scene that read: "For being a loud-mouth."
On Friday and Saturday, dozens of her colleagues and other demonstrators took part in protests calling for justice and demanding a thorough investigation.
The Committee to Protect Journalists says 38 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 1992.
end
Monday, March 27, 2017
AZMEX EXTRA 27-3-17
AZMEX EXTRA 27 MAR 2017
Note: Fed charges? Mug shots at link.
Police: Phoenix couple buys $10,000 'sniper rifle' for Mexican drug cartel
Joe Enea
3:41 PM, Mar 27, 2017
54 mins ago
central phoenix | phoenix metro
http://www.abc15.com/news/crime/pd-phx-couple-buys-10k-sniper-rifle-for-mexican-drug-cartel
PHOENIX - A Phoenix couple is accused of buying a sniper rifle for the Sinaloa Mexican drug cartel.
Another weapon of this type was found in Mexico in January and traced to a straw buy in Phoenix.
Phoenix police report that on March 20 Jonathan Ibarra Alarcon, 31, had his wife, 22-year-old Erica Jean Ibarra-Alarcon, purchase a Barrett 82A1 sniper rifle for $10,000 from a licensed gun store in Phoenix.
The weapon is capable of firing .50-caliber rounds, according to the manufacturer's website, and is currently used by the U.S. and other military forces.
Police soon pulled over their car near 7th Street and Bethany Home Road, where police say Jonathan told them he was given $13,000 to buy the gun and was allowed to keep the remainder of the money as payment for the purchase. He allegedly admitted the rifle would be, "going south to Mexico and the Sinaloa cartel."
Police say Erica has a false address and lied on an ATF form stating the gun was for her. Jonathan reportedly said he was approached about a week before the straw sale and after finding the rifle on the internet, had his wife make the purchase.
The Alarcons have been charged with forgery and weapons misconduct charges.
END
Note: Fed charges? Mug shots at link.
Police: Phoenix couple buys $10,000 'sniper rifle' for Mexican drug cartel
Joe Enea
3:41 PM, Mar 27, 2017
54 mins ago
central phoenix | phoenix metro
http://www.abc15.com/news/crime/pd-phx-couple-buys-10k-sniper-rifle-for-mexican-drug-cartel
PHOENIX - A Phoenix couple is accused of buying a sniper rifle for the Sinaloa Mexican drug cartel.
Another weapon of this type was found in Mexico in January and traced to a straw buy in Phoenix.
Phoenix police report that on March 20 Jonathan Ibarra Alarcon, 31, had his wife, 22-year-old Erica Jean Ibarra-Alarcon, purchase a Barrett 82A1 sniper rifle for $10,000 from a licensed gun store in Phoenix.
The weapon is capable of firing .50-caliber rounds, according to the manufacturer's website, and is currently used by the U.S. and other military forces.
Police soon pulled over their car near 7th Street and Bethany Home Road, where police say Jonathan told them he was given $13,000 to buy the gun and was allowed to keep the remainder of the money as payment for the purchase. He allegedly admitted the rifle would be, "going south to Mexico and the Sinaloa cartel."
Police say Erica has a false address and lied on an ATF form stating the gun was for her. Jonathan reportedly said he was approached about a week before the straw sale and after finding the rifle on the internet, had his wife make the purchase.
The Alarcons have been charged with forgery and weapons misconduct charges.
END
Friday, March 24, 2017
AZMEX POLICY 24-3-17
AZMEX POLICY 24 MAR 2017
Note: more from Mex. Foreign Sec. Videgaray.
thx
Technology, not a wall: Videgaray; Indicates an integral relationship
ECONOMY 24 MAR, 2017
BY: DAVID PÁRAMO | EXPERT
Columnist of Excélsior.
Http://www.dineroenimagen.com/2017-03-24/84922
ACAPULCO.- According to Luis Videgaray, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, debating a wall is a mere distraction to what Mexico and the United States really need to combat such evils as drugs, weapons and "dirty" money: customs technology And migratory.
"The fundamental issue of the relationship between Mexico and the United States goes far beyond how borders are protected, and perhaps the most important thing for us is that we see the whole as a relationship, that we do not just look at one aspect that, Is an aggravation, but let's look at the whole of the relationship and go in that direction, "says Videgaray on the so-called Trump Wall.
Although he says that if the flow of arms and drugs really decreases, it would of course help Mexico, even though he sees it far from fulfilling that objective.
"If it made it less attractive to bring the drugs to the US, of course it would have a positive result. The big question is whether it will work. What we believe is that we have to put more technology in the customs, that you can check the load in a way that does not stop the trade, and that it is effective to detect if they are passing drugs, weapons or cash, "he reiterates In an interview within the framework of the 80th Banking Convention of the ABM.
For the Mexican chancellor, perhaps one of the negative elements of the wall is that it distracts attention on the true investment that should be making in the border. "I think the real discussion should be about betting on technology."
He explains that in terms of customs control, what is wanted is that trans border trade is done as fast as possible, so that perishable goods do not wait in a long line at the border. "But on the other hand you have to make sure the cargo does not carry other things."
"If you try with a manual review, then you have to do it with a few or resign yourself to seeing very long queues. Technology already exists to make quicker and more effective revisions. The problem is that Mexico, and to a lesser extent the US, has not invested in this type of developments. It is a negative consequence of this discussion, setting aside technological investment, to build a wall. "
NO TO POPULISM
Regarding the main theme of the annual banking meeting, which has to do with freedom against populism, Videgaray is emphatic in pointing out that the populist wants something that is noticed tomorrow, no matter what happens in the future.
"The big difference between the statesman and the populist is just that. The demagogue is not thinking about what is going to happen later, wants the fast applause, wants to satisfy the concern of the moment. The statesman is willing to assume costs, to take decisions that are not necessarily going to be the most popular at the time, and yet they are the ones that best fit the country.
"In the end, the great legacy of this government is that of a president who dared, who took very important political costs, but who dared to make changes, which today are already evident and that give Mexico a perspective Of very encouraging growth, "he says.
NEGOTIATION
Regarding what has happened in the Mexico-United States relationship since Trump's arrival, Videgaray explains that there is a very rapid evolution. "We first set the communication parameters. The only way to resolve the public and notorious differences that we have with the US government is to have the channels of direct communication with the White House, the State Department, but also between secretaries who speak to each other. "
"The process is underway. There is clarity in the rhythms and the times. Particularly in the commercial negotiation, which will imply that by the middle of the year, around July, formal talks will begin for the trade theme. "
END
Tecnologías, no un muro: Videgaray; señala una relación integral
ECONOMÍA 24 MAR, 2017
POR: DAVID PÁRAMO | EXPERTO
Columnista de Excélsior.
http://www.dineroenimagen.com/2017-03-24/84922
ACAPULCO.- Para Luis Videgaray, secretario de Relaciones Exteriores, la razón de debatir sobre un muro es un mero distractor a lo que realmente requieren México y Estados Unidos para combatir males como el paso de droga, armas y dinero "sucio": tecnología aduanera y migratoria.
"El tema fundamental de la relación entre México y Estados Unidos va mucho más allá de cómo se protegen las fronteras, y tal vez lo más importante para nosotros es que veamos el conjunto como una relación, que no nos quedemos mirando sólo un aspecto que además es un agraviante, sino que veamos el conjunto de la relación y vayamos en ese sentido", explica Videgaray sobre el llamado Muro de Trump.
Aunque asegura que si realmente disminuye el flujo de armas y droga, claro que ayudaría a México, aunque ve lejos que ese objetivo se cumpla.
"Si hiciera a México menos atractivo para llevar la droga a EU, claro que tendría un resultado positivo. La gran pregunta es si les va a funcionar. Lo que creemos nosotros es que hay que meter más tecnología en las aduanas, que puedas revisar la carga de una manera en que no detengas el comercio, y que sea eficaz para detectar si se está pasando droga, armas o dinero en efectivo", reitera en entrevista en el marco de la 80 Convención Bancaria de la ABM.
Para el canciller mexicano, tal vez uno de los elementos negativos del muro es que distrae la atención sobre la verdadera inversión que debería estar haciéndose en la frontera. "Creo que la verdadera discusión debe estar en apostar a la tecnología".
Explica que en materia de control aduanero, lo que se quiere es que el comercio sea lo más rápido posible, incluso que los bienes perecederos no hagan una larga fila en la frontera. "Pero por otro lado tienes que asegurarte que la carga no lleve otras cosas".
"Si se intenta con una revisión manual, entonces tienes que hacerlo con algunos pocos o resignarte a ver colas muy largas. Ya existe tecnología para hacer revisiones más rápidas y eficaces. El problema es que México, y menos EU, ha invertido en este tipo de desarrollos. Es una consecuencia negativa de esta discusión, que se deje de lado la inversión tecnológica, para construir una pared".
NO AL POPULISMO
Respecto al tema principal de la reunión anual bancaria, que tiene que ver sobre la libertad frente al populismo, Videgaray es enfático al señalar que el populista quiere algo que se note mañana, no importando qué pase en el futuro.
"La gran diferencia entre el estadista y el populista es precisamente eso. El demagogo no está pensando en que va a pasar más adelante, quiere el aplauso rápido, quiere satisfacer la preocupación del momento. El hombre de Estado está dispuesto a asumir costos, a asumir decisiones que no necesariamente van a ser las más populares en ese momento, y que sin embargo son las que más convienen al país.
"A la postre, el gran legado de este gobierno es ése, el de un presidente que se atrevió, que tomó costos políticos muy importantes, pero que se atrevió a hacer cambios, los cuales hoy ya son evidentes y que le dan México una perspectiva de crecimiento muy alentador", asegura.
NEGOCIACIÓN
Respecto a qué ha pasado en la relación México-Estados Unidos desde la llegada de Trump, Videgaray explica que hay una evolución muy rápida. "Primero establecimos los parámetros de comunicación. La única manera de resolver las diferencias públicas y notorias que tenemos con el gobierno estadunidense es tener los canales de comunicación directos con la Casa Blanca, con el departamento de Estados, pero también entre secretarías que hablan entre sí".
"El proceso está en marcha. Se tiene claridad en los ritmos y los tiempos. Particularmente en la negociación comercial, la cual va a implicar que hacia mediados de año, por ahí de julio, iniciarán las pláticas formales para el tema de comercio".
END
Note: more from Mex. Foreign Sec. Videgaray.
thx
Technology, not a wall: Videgaray; Indicates an integral relationship
ECONOMY 24 MAR, 2017
BY: DAVID PÁRAMO | EXPERT
Columnist of Excélsior.
Http://www.dineroenimagen.com/2017-03-24/84922
ACAPULCO.- According to Luis Videgaray, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, debating a wall is a mere distraction to what Mexico and the United States really need to combat such evils as drugs, weapons and "dirty" money: customs technology And migratory.
"The fundamental issue of the relationship between Mexico and the United States goes far beyond how borders are protected, and perhaps the most important thing for us is that we see the whole as a relationship, that we do not just look at one aspect that, Is an aggravation, but let's look at the whole of the relationship and go in that direction, "says Videgaray on the so-called Trump Wall.
Although he says that if the flow of arms and drugs really decreases, it would of course help Mexico, even though he sees it far from fulfilling that objective.
"If it made it less attractive to bring the drugs to the US, of course it would have a positive result. The big question is whether it will work. What we believe is that we have to put more technology in the customs, that you can check the load in a way that does not stop the trade, and that it is effective to detect if they are passing drugs, weapons or cash, "he reiterates In an interview within the framework of the 80th Banking Convention of the ABM.
For the Mexican chancellor, perhaps one of the negative elements of the wall is that it distracts attention on the true investment that should be making in the border. "I think the real discussion should be about betting on technology."
He explains that in terms of customs control, what is wanted is that trans border trade is done as fast as possible, so that perishable goods do not wait in a long line at the border. "But on the other hand you have to make sure the cargo does not carry other things."
"If you try with a manual review, then you have to do it with a few or resign yourself to seeing very long queues. Technology already exists to make quicker and more effective revisions. The problem is that Mexico, and to a lesser extent the US, has not invested in this type of developments. It is a negative consequence of this discussion, setting aside technological investment, to build a wall. "
NO TO POPULISM
Regarding the main theme of the annual banking meeting, which has to do with freedom against populism, Videgaray is emphatic in pointing out that the populist wants something that is noticed tomorrow, no matter what happens in the future.
"The big difference between the statesman and the populist is just that. The demagogue is not thinking about what is going to happen later, wants the fast applause, wants to satisfy the concern of the moment. The statesman is willing to assume costs, to take decisions that are not necessarily going to be the most popular at the time, and yet they are the ones that best fit the country.
"In the end, the great legacy of this government is that of a president who dared, who took very important political costs, but who dared to make changes, which today are already evident and that give Mexico a perspective Of very encouraging growth, "he says.
NEGOTIATION
Regarding what has happened in the Mexico-United States relationship since Trump's arrival, Videgaray explains that there is a very rapid evolution. "We first set the communication parameters. The only way to resolve the public and notorious differences that we have with the US government is to have the channels of direct communication with the White House, the State Department, but also between secretaries who speak to each other. "
"The process is underway. There is clarity in the rhythms and the times. Particularly in the commercial negotiation, which will imply that by the middle of the year, around July, formal talks will begin for the trade theme. "
END
Tecnologías, no un muro: Videgaray; señala una relación integral
ECONOMÍA 24 MAR, 2017
POR: DAVID PÁRAMO | EXPERTO
Columnista de Excélsior.
http://www.dineroenimagen.com/2017-03-24/84922
ACAPULCO.- Para Luis Videgaray, secretario de Relaciones Exteriores, la razón de debatir sobre un muro es un mero distractor a lo que realmente requieren México y Estados Unidos para combatir males como el paso de droga, armas y dinero "sucio": tecnología aduanera y migratoria.
"El tema fundamental de la relación entre México y Estados Unidos va mucho más allá de cómo se protegen las fronteras, y tal vez lo más importante para nosotros es que veamos el conjunto como una relación, que no nos quedemos mirando sólo un aspecto que además es un agraviante, sino que veamos el conjunto de la relación y vayamos en ese sentido", explica Videgaray sobre el llamado Muro de Trump.
Aunque asegura que si realmente disminuye el flujo de armas y droga, claro que ayudaría a México, aunque ve lejos que ese objetivo se cumpla.
"Si hiciera a México menos atractivo para llevar la droga a EU, claro que tendría un resultado positivo. La gran pregunta es si les va a funcionar. Lo que creemos nosotros es que hay que meter más tecnología en las aduanas, que puedas revisar la carga de una manera en que no detengas el comercio, y que sea eficaz para detectar si se está pasando droga, armas o dinero en efectivo", reitera en entrevista en el marco de la 80 Convención Bancaria de la ABM.
Para el canciller mexicano, tal vez uno de los elementos negativos del muro es que distrae la atención sobre la verdadera inversión que debería estar haciéndose en la frontera. "Creo que la verdadera discusión debe estar en apostar a la tecnología".
Explica que en materia de control aduanero, lo que se quiere es que el comercio sea lo más rápido posible, incluso que los bienes perecederos no hagan una larga fila en la frontera. "Pero por otro lado tienes que asegurarte que la carga no lleve otras cosas".
"Si se intenta con una revisión manual, entonces tienes que hacerlo con algunos pocos o resignarte a ver colas muy largas. Ya existe tecnología para hacer revisiones más rápidas y eficaces. El problema es que México, y menos EU, ha invertido en este tipo de desarrollos. Es una consecuencia negativa de esta discusión, que se deje de lado la inversión tecnológica, para construir una pared".
NO AL POPULISMO
Respecto al tema principal de la reunión anual bancaria, que tiene que ver sobre la libertad frente al populismo, Videgaray es enfático al señalar que el populista quiere algo que se note mañana, no importando qué pase en el futuro.
"La gran diferencia entre el estadista y el populista es precisamente eso. El demagogo no está pensando en que va a pasar más adelante, quiere el aplauso rápido, quiere satisfacer la preocupación del momento. El hombre de Estado está dispuesto a asumir costos, a asumir decisiones que no necesariamente van a ser las más populares en ese momento, y que sin embargo son las que más convienen al país.
"A la postre, el gran legado de este gobierno es ése, el de un presidente que se atrevió, que tomó costos políticos muy importantes, pero que se atrevió a hacer cambios, los cuales hoy ya son evidentes y que le dan México una perspectiva de crecimiento muy alentador", asegura.
NEGOCIACIÓN
Respecto a qué ha pasado en la relación México-Estados Unidos desde la llegada de Trump, Videgaray explica que hay una evolución muy rápida. "Primero establecimos los parámetros de comunicación. La única manera de resolver las diferencias públicas y notorias que tenemos con el gobierno estadunidense es tener los canales de comunicación directos con la Casa Blanca, con el departamento de Estados, pero también entre secretarías que hablan entre sí".
"El proceso está en marcha. Se tiene claridad en los ritmos y los tiempos. Particularmente en la negociación comercial, la cual va a implicar que hacia mediados de año, por ahí de julio, iniciarán las pláticas formales para el tema de comercio".
END
AZMEX UPDATE 24-3-17
AZMEX UPDATE 24 MAR 2017
Former U.S,. Border Patrol agent sentenced to over 13 years in prison for bribery, drug trafficking
Submitted Mar 22, 2017
http://www.douglasdispatch.com/news/former-u-s-border-patrol-agent-sentenced-to-over-years/article_760a409c-0f19-11e7-9a2b-9fa984c58cb5.html
On March 17, 2017, Juan Ramon Pimentel, 48, of Rio Rico, Ariz., was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Raner Collins to 160 months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. Pimentel had previously pleaded guilty to attempted possession with intent to distribute 50 kilograms of cocaine and accepting bribes as a public official.
"Law enforcement officers take an oath to enforce the law, and Mr. Pimentel repeatedly violated that oath by taking bribes and trafficking drugs across the country," said Acting U.S. Attorney Elizabeth A. Strange. "Our office will continue to vigorously prosecute any official who crosses the line to engage in criminal acts."
The drug charges stem from a traffic stop on Nov. 18, 2015.
Pimentel's vehicle contained 50 kilograms of a white powdery substance, a Glock .40 caliber handgun, and his Border Patrol Badge and credentials. Pimentel admitted he knew there were drugs in the vehicle and he was taking them to Chicago. He also admitted that he agreed to make the trip for a fee of a $1,000 per kilogram.
The bribery charges relate to an occasion on Feb. 13, 2015, where Pimentel received cash for distributing license plate information he had obtained from a law enforcement database. Pimentel had been employed as a U.S. Border Patrol Agent since 2001, with the Nogales Border Patrol Station.
END
Local school district taking steps to protect undocumented students
POSTED:MAR 23 2017 08:51PM MST
UPDATED:MAR 23 2017 08:51PM MST
http://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/arizona-news/243623883-story
PHOENIX (KSAZ) - A local school district is taking steps to protect students who are undocumented.
According to a letter sent to the student's parents, officials with the the Phoenix Elementary School District #1 will not allow immigration officers on school grounds, without a warrant.
Sara Bresnahan with the school district outlined the steps.
Local school district taking steps to protect undocumented students
"It's important that that person would go through the CEOs office," said Bresnahan. "We would work with our legal counsel to make sure the right legal documents were in order before someone was allowed to go on campus."
School officials said there was no changes made to their policy, but they heard there were some concerns of how things were, after Donald Trump became President. In response, the district wanted to reassure parents their children are safe at school.
The letter was sent out to parents on Monday, and was in English and Spanish. The letter was also sent out to members of staff, the Phoenix Police Department, and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.
"We're just always trying to make sure our parents know, get your kids to school, don't keep them at home, they need to be in class being educated everyday," said Bresnahan . She said that schools are considered safe places, and that has not changed.
"We are not going to just let people on the campuses without very good reason, or without our legal counsel advising us," said Bresnahan.
Officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said on its website that schools are sensitive locations, and their policies state that enforcement actions at schools should generally be avoided, and is only done with "prior approval from an appropriate supervisory official".
However, the same website also states that ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers may carry out enforcement actions at a sensitive location, without prior approval from a supervisor, if there is exigent circumstances related to national security, terrorism, or public safety, or where there is "an imminent risk of destruction of evidence material to an ongoing criminal case".
end
Former U.S,. Border Patrol agent sentenced to over 13 years in prison for bribery, drug trafficking
Submitted Mar 22, 2017
http://www.douglasdispatch.com/news/former-u-s-border-patrol-agent-sentenced-to-over-years/article_760a409c-0f19-11e7-9a2b-9fa984c58cb5.html
On March 17, 2017, Juan Ramon Pimentel, 48, of Rio Rico, Ariz., was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Raner Collins to 160 months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. Pimentel had previously pleaded guilty to attempted possession with intent to distribute 50 kilograms of cocaine and accepting bribes as a public official.
"Law enforcement officers take an oath to enforce the law, and Mr. Pimentel repeatedly violated that oath by taking bribes and trafficking drugs across the country," said Acting U.S. Attorney Elizabeth A. Strange. "Our office will continue to vigorously prosecute any official who crosses the line to engage in criminal acts."
The drug charges stem from a traffic stop on Nov. 18, 2015.
Pimentel's vehicle contained 50 kilograms of a white powdery substance, a Glock .40 caliber handgun, and his Border Patrol Badge and credentials. Pimentel admitted he knew there were drugs in the vehicle and he was taking them to Chicago. He also admitted that he agreed to make the trip for a fee of a $1,000 per kilogram.
The bribery charges relate to an occasion on Feb. 13, 2015, where Pimentel received cash for distributing license plate information he had obtained from a law enforcement database. Pimentel had been employed as a U.S. Border Patrol Agent since 2001, with the Nogales Border Patrol Station.
END
Local school district taking steps to protect undocumented students
POSTED:MAR 23 2017 08:51PM MST
UPDATED:MAR 23 2017 08:51PM MST
http://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/arizona-news/243623883-story
PHOENIX (KSAZ) - A local school district is taking steps to protect students who are undocumented.
According to a letter sent to the student's parents, officials with the the Phoenix Elementary School District #1 will not allow immigration officers on school grounds, without a warrant.
Sara Bresnahan with the school district outlined the steps.
Local school district taking steps to protect undocumented students
"It's important that that person would go through the CEOs office," said Bresnahan. "We would work with our legal counsel to make sure the right legal documents were in order before someone was allowed to go on campus."
School officials said there was no changes made to their policy, but they heard there were some concerns of how things were, after Donald Trump became President. In response, the district wanted to reassure parents their children are safe at school.
The letter was sent out to parents on Monday, and was in English and Spanish. The letter was also sent out to members of staff, the Phoenix Police Department, and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.
"We're just always trying to make sure our parents know, get your kids to school, don't keep them at home, they need to be in class being educated everyday," said Bresnahan . She said that schools are considered safe places, and that has not changed.
"We are not going to just let people on the campuses without very good reason, or without our legal counsel advising us," said Bresnahan.
Officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said on its website that schools are sensitive locations, and their policies state that enforcement actions at schools should generally be avoided, and is only done with "prior approval from an appropriate supervisory official".
However, the same website also states that ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers may carry out enforcement actions at a sensitive location, without prior approval from a supervisor, if there is exigent circumstances related to national security, terrorism, or public safety, or where there is "an imminent risk of destruction of evidence material to an ongoing criminal case".
end
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